Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Worship Service
St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
PENTECOST 16 – Coronavirus
Grandparents Sunday.
09-12-2021 10:00AM Zoom Worship
THE OPENING RITE:
L May the steadfast love of God, the life of (+) Jesus Christ, and the growth of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
C And also with you.
L Today we will hear Jesus say, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”
C Wait a minute, Jesus! Those words are a little too harsh, too limiting, and also pretty scary. Am I not free to do just what I want to do, to have it my way, to follow my personal desires and dreams? Isn’t that what life is all about? I like you, Jesus, I really do. But – when it comes to Christianity – I sometimes prefer an easier gospel, a lighter cross, a less demanding Savior, and a cheaper ticket to heaven. Am I wrong to want to live my life to the max? Forget the cross. Here’s the world right at my feet – without thorns and nails.
L Today we will hear Jesus ask, “For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?”
C Let us humble ourselves and pray.
Dear God, I truly don’t always understand… and I’m not always willing… and sometimes I fail and I fall. But I’m here today seeking your mercy, thirsty for your love, willing to try again to live as your child. Through the presence and the power and the promises of Jesus, reach out to me. Give me wisdom and insight into my own life and the lives of others. Show me what to think, what and when to say and do, and in all things how to love as you love. Give me the courage and conviction of cross-bearing discipleship. Please order my steps in your Word of Life, Jesus Christ – now, always, and forever, Amen.
OPENING SONG: “ORDER MY STEPS”
HISTORY OF GRANDPARENTS DAY AND A TESTIMONY: Carol Chatman
A TRIBUTE TO GRANDPARENTS: Kathy Nelson
FIRST READING: ISAIAH 50:4-9a [The Suffering Servant – Is it Old Testament Israel? the prophet Isaiah? some other prophet or person? the still-to-be-born Jesus? – trusts in God and remains faithful throughout all trials, in spite of pain.]
50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens– wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward.
50:6 I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting.
50:7 The Lord GOD helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame;
50:8 he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me.
50:9a It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?
SECOND READING: JAMES 3:1-12 [With our mouths and what our actions say, we have the capacity both to bless God and to curse, to teach others and also to harm them. Always be careful about what you are saying and doing!]
3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
3:2 For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.
3:3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies.
3:4 Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.
3:5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire!
3:6 And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell.
3:7 For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species,
3:8 but no one can tame the tongue–a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God.
3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so.
3:11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water?
3:12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
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 8:27-38 [Like Peter and the earliest disciples, we must first answer the fundamental question for ourselves: “WHO IS JESUS?” Then we must face the reality of our answer by asking: “WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FOLLOW CHRIST?” Then we must decide to act.]
8:27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
8:28 And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
8:29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”
8:30 And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
8:32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
8:34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
8:35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
8:36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
8:37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?
8:38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen
A SONG SELECTION
OFFERING… In the face of adversity, the prophet Isaiah calls to the people, “Let us stand up together.” This is a call to us as well, to stand together in discipleship… to stand together in love… to stand together in our offerings, our kind words, our merciful deeds.
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!