Nineteenth Sunday After Pentecost Worship Bulletin
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 19 – Coronavirus
WORLD COMMUNION SUNDAY
10-03-2021 10:00AM Zoom Worship
OPENING SONG: “HE’S GOT THE WHOLE WORLD”
THE OPENING RITE AND PRAYER OF THE DAY:
L Sisters and brothers from near and from far,
come to the altar, come to the font, come to the table, and let us be one!
C Broken, yet seeking wholeness…
isolated, yet seeking community…
overwhelmed, yet seeking simplicity…
shamed, yet seeking grace…
O God, we long for the healing you promise!
L Let us remember and celebrate that we are one kingdom of servants,
a global church with a global mission, in unity with our brothers and sisters!
C Selfish, yet seeking to have a generous heart…
arrogant, yet seeking humility…
responsible for injustices, yet seeking forgiveness…
O God, we long for the justice you promise!
L Let us be ONE at the table, ONE in spirit, ONE in mission, and ONE in love,
for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the world, for the sake of our journey on earth and eternal life beyond!
C Afraid, yet seeking assurance…
agitated, yet seeking serenity…
anxious, yet seeking faithfulness…
O God, we long for the renewal you promise!
L Let hearts be uplifted and burdens removed!
Let sins be confessed and mercy received!
Let peace be shared and hope renewed!
Let all the people of God be reconciled, revived, and recommitted!
C Holding on to Jesus…
holding on to his power…
holding on to his command…
O God, we long to love as Jesus has loved us!
L And let us pray.
O God of might and mercy,
You have created us with dust, breathed life and your spirit into us, and called us to live as your children.
We pray that we may be humble and grateful,
trusting and faithful,
responsible in our care for this earth,
and truly loving in our relationships with one another. Amen.
FIRST READING: GENESIS 2:18-24 [Out of lonely isolation, God created companionship and love within humanity. And it was all good in the beginning… until our own sin and disobedience got in the way.]
2:18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”
2:19 So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
2:20 The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.
2:21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
2:22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
2:23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.”
2:24 Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.
THE PSALM: PSALM 8 [We are stirred with the awe and wonder of God’s creation and utterly stunned to realize the glory, the responsibility, and the love that God gives to humanity.]
8:1 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
8:2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
8:4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?
8:5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.
8:6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,
8:7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8:8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
8:9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
SECOND READING: HEBREWS 1:1-4; 2:5-12 [From an exalted position, Jesus stepped down to a position lower than the angels. He did this to bring “many children” to glory. He is the “pioneer” or “champion” of salvation who shares his own destiny with us. So we share not only Christ’s humanity, but also his glory.]
1:1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets,
1:2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.
1:3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
1:4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
2:5 Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels.
2:6 But someone has testified somewhere, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, or mortals, that you care for them?
2:7 You have made them for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned them with glory and honor,
2:8 subjecting all things under their feet.” Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them,
2:9 but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
2:10 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2:11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
2:12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters, in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”
GOSPEL VERSE:
“There is strength in the name of the Lord…
There is power in the name of the Lord…
There is hope in the name of the Lord…
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
THE HOLY GOSPEL: MARK 10:2-16 [Asked about divorce to test him, Jesus instead talks about what marriage is supposed to be, thus transforming the question from what is legal to what is right. He then extends that higher standard of love to include children, who were so vulnerable in his day.]
10:2 Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”
10:3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”
10:4 They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.”
10:5 But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’
10:7 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
10:8 and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
10:9 Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10:10 Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter.
10:11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
10:12 and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
10:13 People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.
10:14 But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.
10:15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.”
10:16 And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
SERMON: Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil
SONG SELECTION
AN AFFIRMATION OF OUR FAITH:
We confess our FAITH in the God who has given us life, love, and new life…
I trust in God who has made me his own. I know that God loves me. To God I am as precious as his own Son, Jesus Christ, who lived and died in obedience to his Father’s will. Jesus suffered our pain, and through his suffering and death has brought us into fellowship with God.
I believe that God through his Spirit will give me strength when I am oppressed and weary… will give me love when I am afraid and lonely… and will guide his Church to make people free at last.
I believe that God lives in the fellowship of those who trust him, and that God wants all people to be brought into that fellowship.
I believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Living in hope and trust, I will deny myself, take up my cross, and walk the Jesus walk of faithful servant love.
Amen.
OFFERING… God our Creator has great love for us and great confidence that we will use all that God has given us – who we are, what we have, and how we might live – to praise and serve the Lord through loving deeds and generous acts. Can we live up to this great calling, this awesome responsibility?
THE OFFERTORY SONG:
“More about Jesus would I know, more of his grace to others show,
More of his saving fullness see, more of his love who died for me.
MORE, MORE ABOUT JESUS… MORE, MORE ABOUT JESUS…
MORE OF HIS SAVING FULLNESS SEE, MORE OF HIS LOVE WHO DIED FOR ME.
More about Jesus let me learn, more of his holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my Teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me.”
OFFERING PRAYER (see Philippians 3:10-11):
Dear God, I want to know Christ inside and out. I want to experience the power of his resurrection and join him in his suffering. I want to be like him in his death and be raised like him from death. As I grow in the grace of Christ, make me strong in my faith, bold in my witness, and fervent in my servant-love. There is no better life than life in Christ! Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION: Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and for the MISSION of the Church to the world!
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SONG SELECTION
THE BENEDICTION… We are sent forth to be and become the BODY OF CHRIST for the world!