THE FIRST LESSON Isaiah 5:1-7
THE SECOND LESSON Luke 12:49-56
SERMON "Fire in the Hole: Passion for the Kingdom!"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost. During these summer weeks, and throughout the Pentecost season, we sustain a purposeful focus on God's gift of the Holy Spirit and on its presence at work within and through us.
In worship today, we attempt to open our eyes to the divisions and separations that exist between God's people. We reflect on our role in perpetuating those divisions and consider whether, in exercising our responsibilities as faithful disciples of Christ, we are called to societal conflict and separation.
The music through which we worship today reflects our struggle to live in a world in which the fullness of God's kingdom has not yet been realized. The prelude and postlude are settings of hymn texts that describe Christ as the one rock or foundation on which we are called to build our lives and our church. The opening hymn, "The Church's One Foundation," describes a unity that does not yet exist within the Christian community but is one for which we still work, hope, and pray. In response to God's word, we sing about the costs of discipleship that we encounter when we are willing to "take up our cross" and follow Christ. As our service ends, we sing Hymn 434, which reminds us of all that is involved in our call to follow Christ and serve as disciples.
In worship today, we also hear from our youth who participated in the mission trip to St. Paul, Minnesota earlier this month. The youth will be sharing music, "affirming their faith" by describing their experiences serving others, and leading our prayers
"Consequential faith has risks. The love of Christ is love worth dying for. Congregations are far more reluctant to ask this kind of faith of teenagers than teenagers are to respond to it. Churches help young people develop consequential faith best when they focus on who Christ is calling young people to become as his envoys in the world." Kendra Creasy Dean
