All Hallows Sunday Morning Service and Evening Service (February 12, 2023)
The format for this Sunday's morning service and evening service is based upon the basic pattern of worship found in The United Methodist Book of Worship. The songs used in each service come from the United Methodist Church’s The Faith We Sing (2000) or Worship and Song (2011). The Faith We Sing and Worship and Song are supplements to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989).
The morning service begins at the top of the page. Scroll down the page for the beginning of the evening service.Morning Service
Opening Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Jim Strathdee’s “A Wilderness Wander People.” [WnS # 3113]
We are a wilderness wandering people
on a journey of the soul.
May we find our destination
in our longing to be whole.
Our holy God is calling to us,
with Jesus by our side.
May compassion be our compass,
may the Spirit be our guide.
May we cherish all our children
let heal our family’s pain,
help us cure our city’s madness
let love and justice reign.
Reconciled with one another
In prayer and praise and song,
we’re the body of Christ together
and we know that we belong,
we belong,
we belong,
we belong.
Confession of Sin:
Let us confess our sins to God.
Silence
Gracious and holy God,
we confess that we have sinned
against you and against our neighbour.
Your Spirit gives light,
but we have preferred darkness;
your Spirit gives wisdom,
but we have been foolish;
your Spirit gives power,
but we have trusted in our own strength.
For the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, forgive our sins,
and enable us by your Spirit
to serve you in joyful obedience,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.
There is now no condemnation
for those who live in union with Christ Jesus; for the law of the Spirit of life
has set us free from the law of sin and death.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Hymn of Preparation:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s “Living Spirit, Holy Fire.” [WnS #3108]
1 Living Spirit, holy fire,
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
2 Warm us, draw your people near
when our love draws weak or cold.
Free our frozen hearts from fear,
that each story may be told.
3 Melt away the masks we wear,
hiding what we know and feel.
Risking growth, we want to share
love in action, love that's real.
4 Open hearts; affirm us all,
many splendored, one in you,
we embrace the work, the call:
You are making all things new.
5 Living Spirit, holy fire,
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
Opening Prayer:
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Silence
Faithful God,
you fulfilled the promise of Easter
by sending your Holy Spirit
and opening the way of eternal life
to all the human race.
Keep us in the unity of your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
Opening Prayer:
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Silence
Faithful God,
you fulfilled the promise of Easter
by sending your Holy Spirit
and opening the way of eternal life
to all the human race.
Keep us in the unity of your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Scripture Reading:
A reading from the New Testament (Luke 6: 27-36)
“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back. Do for others just what you want them to do for you.
“If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that! And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount! No! Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
Silence
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies and to do good to them may be one of the most radical of his commandments. The disciples and the crowd listening to him must have looked at each other. “He cannot mean what is saying,” they may have thought. “Love the Samaritans. Love the Idumaeans. Love the Romans.” They were to love the grain dealer from whom they were forced to buy wheat to make flour for bread even though he cheated them. They were to love the tax collector who took their best she-donkey and her foal as payment of the tax he said they owed.
They may have shuffled their feet in the dust of the plain where Jesus was teaching them, uneasy beneath Jesus’ steady gaze. Those who had been with Jesus for a while knew that he was unusually perceptive. He knew what people were thinking. Nothing was lost on Jesus.
But Jesus goes on to repeat what he said about loving their enemies. They are to treat others as they would have others treat them. They are not to retaliate if someone mistreats them. They are to give to everyone who asks them for something, and when someone takes what is theirs, they are not to ask for it back. They are to treat others as they would have others treat them.
They may have begun to murmur among themselves. Does Jesus understand what he is saying? Does he appreciate how difficult it is to have kind feelings toward the Roman soldiers who roughed up their neighbor because he was unable to give them the money they tried to extort from him?
I do not believe our reaction to this particular teaching of Jesus’ is much different from what I imagine was theirs. Who turns the other cheek in the world in which we live? Even if we are not in a position to retaliate when someone is unkind or unpleasant to us, we think about it.
It is pretty clear what Jesus is saying. “Love your enemies and do good to them.” We are to love those who harbor ill will against us, who spurn our friendship, and who do not conceal their dislike of us. We are to love those who give us a hard time because they are able to make things difficult for us and they enjoy doing it. They get malicious satisfaction from putting obstacles in our way and making our lives miserable. We are to love those who openly despise us, verbally insult and abuse us, and have no compunctions against injuring or killing us.
Jesus does not say, “Love this person but not that person.” No, he says to love everyone, to love those who may be the hardest to love, those who have no love for us, those who have nothing but hatred for us.
People who behave like they are our enemies are not necessarily people whom we would wish to be our enemies. They may take a dislike to us or act in opposition to us for reasons that they may not fully understand themselves. In the seventh and eighth grade in middle school I was teased by the girls in my class and bullied by the other boys. I do not recall feeling any enmity toward my persecutors. I wanted to be accepted or left alone. It was a small town and the other students had known each other from the first grade. I was a newcomer, an outsider. The one time that I hit back, the older boy who had punched me knocked me unconscious and broke my nose.
Several years later the same individual, pretending to be the town marshal, stopped me when I was driving home late at night. When I became suspicious as he was hanging back in the darkness and asked for some identification, he punched me through the open car window. When I regained consciousness, I was slumped across the steering wheel of my car which was covered with my blood.
From what I gather he blamed me for an altercation that he had with a young woman who worked at a local burger joint. She accused him of spreading nasty rumors about her and he concluded that I was the one who had been spreading the rumors. If he had known me better, he would have known that I was not the kind of person who did that sort of thing. It may not have mattered to him. I was someone whom he could blame for what happened and upon whom he could exact his revenge.
Jesus would have us love people like him. He would have us love people like whoever shot and killed a coworker of mine whose truck stalled and blocked the highway during evening rush hour. Jesus would not only have us love them but also do good to them. He would have us show them compassion, kindness, forgiveness, patience. He would have us be merciful to them as God is merciful to us. He would have us respond to them with grace.
Responding to others with grace is not easy, is it? Especially when they may have done something that annoys or angers us or displeases us.
Psychologists tell us that other people do not control how we feel. We do. Their words and actions may trigger a reaction in us but how we react is our decision. We may be in the habit of reacting in a particular way, for example, blowing our top, but we are still responsible for how we react. They have no control over our feelings. The only thing over which they have control is their words and actions. We do have the ability to react differently. Jesus recognized that we have this ability.
We can also misconstrue someone’s words and actions so that we have a false understanding of the meaning or intention of what they said and did. As a consequence, we can form an opinion of that person which is wrong or not accurate. Our misperception of that person may influence how we relate to that person and how we react to their words and actions. With his ability to see people’s hearts, their innermost thoughts and feelings, I believe that I can say with a measure of confidence that Jesus understood this too.
How we react to something that someone else said or did may have nothing to do with what they said or did. Rather it may be related to our past experiences, our personal history, and our relationship with parents and siblings and other key figures in our childhood and adolescence.
These insights may help us respond to other people with grace.
Jesus sets a high standard for his disciples, but he does not leave us to struggle to meet that standard on our own. Loving our enemies and doing good to them is not something that we do solely in our own strength. God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, works in us to that end. God’s grace gives us the will to follow Jesus’ teaching and once we have that will, enables us to follow his teaching. The Holy Spirit nudges us to do what is pleasing to God and helps us to live a life of love as Jesus did, showing compassion, kindness, forgiveness, patience, mercy, and grace to others, not just those who love us but those who hate or oppose us, who try to harm us or keep us from doing what we wish to do.
Silence
Hymn of Response:
Open this link in anew to hear John Wesley's Covenant Prayer." [WnS # 3115]
1 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
2 Father, Son, and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
Father, Son and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Bridge:
Let me be employed for you,
laid aside for you,
lifted high for you or brought low.
Let me be full, let me empty.
Let me have all things or nothing.
3 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Concerns and Prayers:
The following is prayed, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition.
After each prayer, the leader may conclude: God of mercy and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Together, let us pray
for the people of this congregation...
for those who suffer and those in trouble...
for the concerns of this local community...
for the world, its peoples, and its leaders...
for the earth you have given to our care…
for the Church universal—its leaders, its members, and its mission...
in communion with the saints...
Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught
us to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Trevor Hodge’s musical setting of Bessy Porter Ann Head’s “O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping through Us.” [WAS #3146]*
1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
O Breath of life, come, cleanse, renew us,
and fit your church to meet this hour.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
till humbly we confess our need.
Then in your tenderness remake us;
revive, restore, for this we plead.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
equip your church to spread the light.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Coda:
O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
*This is a different musical setting from Carlton R. Young's setting in Worship and Song.
Benediction:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
Evening Service
Opening Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Fred Pratt Green’s “Now It Is Evening.” [TFWS #2187]
1 Now it is evening:
lights of the city
bid us remember
Christ is our Light.
Many are lonely,
who will be neighbor?
Where there is caring,
Christ is our Light.
2 Now it is evening:
little ones sleeping
bid us remember
Christ is our Peace.
Some are neglected,
who will be neighbor?
Where there is caring,
Christ is our Peace.
3 Now it is evening:
food on the table
bids us remember
Christ is our Life.
Many are hungry,
who will be neighbor?
Where there is sharing,
Christ is our Life.
4 Now it is evening:
here in our meeting
may we remember
Christ is our Friend.
Some may be strangers,
who will be neighbor?
Where there's a welcome,
Christ is our Friend.
Confession of Sin:
Let us confess our sins to God.
Silence
Gracious and holy God,
we confess that we have sinned
against you and against our neighbour.
Your Spirit gives light,
but we have preferred darkness;
your Spirit gives wisdom,
but we have been foolish;
your Spirit gives power,
but we have trusted in our own strength.
For the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, forgive our sins,
and enable us by your Spirit
to serve you in joyful obedience,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.
There is now no condemnation
for those who live in union with Christ Jesus; for the law of the Spirit of life
has set us free from the law of sin and death.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Hymn of Preparation:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s “Living Spirit, Holy Fire.” [WnS #3108]
1 Living Spirit, holy fire,
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
2 Warm us, draw your people near
when our love draws weak or cold.
Free our frozen hearts from fear,
that each story may be told.
3 Melt away the masks we wear,
hiding what we know and feel.
Risking growth, we want to share
love in action, love that's real.
4 Open hearts; affirm us all,
many splendored, one in you,
we embrace the work, the call:
You are making all things new.
5 Living Spirit, holy fire,
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
Opening Prayer:
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Silence
Faithful God,
you fulfilled the promise of Easter
by sending your Holy Spirit
and opening the way of eternal life
to all the human race.
Keep us in the unity of your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Scripture Reading:
A reading from the New Testament (1 Corinthians 3: 1-9)
As a matter of fact, my friends, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith. I had to feed you milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it, because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards? When one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos”—aren't you acting like worldly people?
After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow. The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow. There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done. For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field.
Silence
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
In this evening’s New Testament reading from his first letter to the Corinthians the apostle Paul draws to the attention of those to whom he wrote the letter a number of their failings as individuals who are supposed to be believers. They still live as the other Corinthians live. They become upset and angry with each other, and they quarrel with each other. They act like their fellow Corinthians who make no claim to be believers.
When I read this passage, I think about the complaint that I have heard from young people about Christians, young people who come from church background as well as those who have never attended a church. Their complaint is that Christians act no differently from everyone else except for listening to contemporary Christian music and going to church a couple of times a month. You cannot tell from the way that they live that they are Christians. As Paul puts it in the reading, they are living by the standards of the world.
It certainly undermines our credibility as disciples of Jesus when we do not live according to the principles that he taught and the example that he set. I am not talking about praying every day or reading our Bibles every day, or going to church on Sundays or whenever we go to church. I am talking about how we relate to our fellow Christians, to each other, and to other people around us, to those in our family, at school, at work, in the grocery store, on the street. Can people tell from our words and actions who is the strongest influence in our lives? Is it Jesus?
Jesus taught his disciples to be imitators of a particular quality of God’s character, God’s hesed, a Hebrew word which is translated as “loving kindness” and which describes all the positive attributes of God—love, faithfulness, mercy, grace, kindness, steadfastness. Paul urged those to whom he wrote to do the same. In our relationship with our fellow Christians and other people this translates into being firm and unchanging in our friendliness toward them just as God is toward us. There is a lot more to it, but this is our basic attitude toward them. We are kind, gentle, helpful, forgiving, considerate, trustworthy. When we have differences, we seek to resolve them in a peaceful manner. We have a positive effect on those around us. We build up others with our words and actions and not tear them down. We walk the path of reconciliation and not strife, violent or angry disagreement.
As Paul points to our attention in this passage from his first letter to the Corinthians, the way that we treat each other, how much Jesus’ message and teaching guide our lives, is a measure of our maturity in Christ, our maturity as Jesus’ followers.
The season of Lent begins the week after next. We think of the Lenten season as a season of fasting and self-denial. However, Lent is also a season for examining ourselves and identifying the things in our life that hinder us in following Jesus, for committing ourselves to doing something about these hindrances, and for becoming more open to God’s perfecting sanctifying grace in our lives. It is a season for rededicating ourselves to Christ and to the path of a true disciple.
Silence
Hymn of Response:
Open this link in anew to hear John Wesley's Covenant Prayer." [WnS # 3115]
1 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
2 Father, Son, and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
Father, Son and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Bridge:
Let me be employed for you,
laid aside for you,
lifted high for you or brought low.
Let me be full, let me empty.
Let me have all things or nothing.
3 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Concerns and Prayers
The following is prayed, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition.
After each prayer, the leader may conclude: God of mercy and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Together, let us pray
for the people of this congregation...
for those who suffer and those in trouble...
for the concerns of this local community...
for the world, its peoples, and its leaders...
for the earth you have given to our care…
for the Church universal—its leaders, its members, and its mission...
in communion with the saints...
Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught
us to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Trevor Hodge’s musical setting of Bessy Porter Ann Head’s “O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping through Us.” [WAS #3146]*
1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
O Breath of life, come, cleanse, renew us,
and fit your church to meet this hour.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
till humbly we confess our need.
Then in your tenderness remake us;
revive, restore, for this we plead.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
equip your church to spread the light.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Coda:
O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
*This is a different musical setting from Carlton R. Young's setting in Worship and Song.
Benediction:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
A reading from the New Testament (Luke 6: 27-36)
“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back. Do for others just what you want them to do for you.
“If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that! And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount! No! Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.
Silence
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Plain Talk: Love for Enemies
Jesus’ commandment to love our enemies and to do good to them may be one of the most radical of his commandments. The disciples and the crowd listening to him must have looked at each other. “He cannot mean what is saying,” they may have thought. “Love the Samaritans. Love the Idumaeans. Love the Romans.” They were to love the grain dealer from whom they were forced to buy wheat to make flour for bread even though he cheated them. They were to love the tax collector who took their best she-donkey and her foal as payment of the tax he said they owed.
They may have shuffled their feet in the dust of the plain where Jesus was teaching them, uneasy beneath Jesus’ steady gaze. Those who had been with Jesus for a while knew that he was unusually perceptive. He knew what people were thinking. Nothing was lost on Jesus.
But Jesus goes on to repeat what he said about loving their enemies. They are to treat others as they would have others treat them. They are not to retaliate if someone mistreats them. They are to give to everyone who asks them for something, and when someone takes what is theirs, they are not to ask for it back. They are to treat others as they would have others treat them.
They may have begun to murmur among themselves. Does Jesus understand what he is saying? Does he appreciate how difficult it is to have kind feelings toward the Roman soldiers who roughed up their neighbor because he was unable to give them the money they tried to extort from him?
I do not believe our reaction to this particular teaching of Jesus’ is much different from what I imagine was theirs. Who turns the other cheek in the world in which we live? Even if we are not in a position to retaliate when someone is unkind or unpleasant to us, we think about it.
It is pretty clear what Jesus is saying. “Love your enemies and do good to them.” We are to love those who harbor ill will against us, who spurn our friendship, and who do not conceal their dislike of us. We are to love those who give us a hard time because they are able to make things difficult for us and they enjoy doing it. They get malicious satisfaction from putting obstacles in our way and making our lives miserable. We are to love those who openly despise us, verbally insult and abuse us, and have no compunctions against injuring or killing us.
Jesus does not say, “Love this person but not that person.” No, he says to love everyone, to love those who may be the hardest to love, those who have no love for us, those who have nothing but hatred for us.
People who behave like they are our enemies are not necessarily people whom we would wish to be our enemies. They may take a dislike to us or act in opposition to us for reasons that they may not fully understand themselves. In the seventh and eighth grade in middle school I was teased by the girls in my class and bullied by the other boys. I do not recall feeling any enmity toward my persecutors. I wanted to be accepted or left alone. It was a small town and the other students had known each other from the first grade. I was a newcomer, an outsider. The one time that I hit back, the older boy who had punched me knocked me unconscious and broke my nose.
Several years later the same individual, pretending to be the town marshal, stopped me when I was driving home late at night. When I became suspicious as he was hanging back in the darkness and asked for some identification, he punched me through the open car window. When I regained consciousness, I was slumped across the steering wheel of my car which was covered with my blood.
From what I gather he blamed me for an altercation that he had with a young woman who worked at a local burger joint. She accused him of spreading nasty rumors about her and he concluded that I was the one who had been spreading the rumors. If he had known me better, he would have known that I was not the kind of person who did that sort of thing. It may not have mattered to him. I was someone whom he could blame for what happened and upon whom he could exact his revenge.
Jesus would have us love people like him. He would have us love people like whoever shot and killed a coworker of mine whose truck stalled and blocked the highway during evening rush hour. Jesus would not only have us love them but also do good to them. He would have us show them compassion, kindness, forgiveness, patience. He would have us be merciful to them as God is merciful to us. He would have us respond to them with grace.
Responding to others with grace is not easy, is it? Especially when they may have done something that annoys or angers us or displeases us.
Psychologists tell us that other people do not control how we feel. We do. Their words and actions may trigger a reaction in us but how we react is our decision. We may be in the habit of reacting in a particular way, for example, blowing our top, but we are still responsible for how we react. They have no control over our feelings. The only thing over which they have control is their words and actions. We do have the ability to react differently. Jesus recognized that we have this ability.
We can also misconstrue someone’s words and actions so that we have a false understanding of the meaning or intention of what they said and did. As a consequence, we can form an opinion of that person which is wrong or not accurate. Our misperception of that person may influence how we relate to that person and how we react to their words and actions. With his ability to see people’s hearts, their innermost thoughts and feelings, I believe that I can say with a measure of confidence that Jesus understood this too.
How we react to something that someone else said or did may have nothing to do with what they said or did. Rather it may be related to our past experiences, our personal history, and our relationship with parents and siblings and other key figures in our childhood and adolescence.
These insights may help us respond to other people with grace.
Jesus sets a high standard for his disciples, but he does not leave us to struggle to meet that standard on our own. Loving our enemies and doing good to them is not something that we do solely in our own strength. God’s grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, works in us to that end. God’s grace gives us the will to follow Jesus’ teaching and once we have that will, enables us to follow his teaching. The Holy Spirit nudges us to do what is pleasing to God and helps us to live a life of love as Jesus did, showing compassion, kindness, forgiveness, patience, mercy, and grace to others, not just those who love us but those who hate or oppose us, who try to harm us or keep us from doing what we wish to do.
Silence
Hymn of Response:
Open this link in anew to hear John Wesley's Covenant Prayer." [WnS # 3115]
1 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
2 Father, Son, and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
Father, Son and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Bridge:
Let me be employed for you,
laid aside for you,
lifted high for you or brought low.
Let me be full, let me empty.
Let me have all things or nothing.
3 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Concerns and Prayers:
The following is prayed, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition.
After each prayer, the leader may conclude: God of mercy and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Together, let us pray
for the people of this congregation...
for those who suffer and those in trouble...
for the concerns of this local community...
for the world, its peoples, and its leaders...
for the earth you have given to our care…
for the Church universal—its leaders, its members, and its mission...
in communion with the saints...
Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught
us to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Trevor Hodge’s musical setting of Bessy Porter Ann Head’s “O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping through Us.” [WAS #3146]*
1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
O Breath of life, come, cleanse, renew us,
and fit your church to meet this hour.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
till humbly we confess our need.
Then in your tenderness remake us;
revive, restore, for this we plead.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
equip your church to spread the light.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Coda:
O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
*This is a different musical setting from Carlton R. Young's setting in Worship and Song.
Benediction:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
Evening Service
Opening Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Fred Pratt Green’s “Now It Is Evening.” [TFWS #2187]
1 Now it is evening:
lights of the city
bid us remember
Christ is our Light.
Many are lonely,
who will be neighbor?
Where there is caring,
Christ is our Light.
2 Now it is evening:
little ones sleeping
bid us remember
Christ is our Peace.
Some are neglected,
who will be neighbor?
Where there is caring,
Christ is our Peace.
3 Now it is evening:
food on the table
bids us remember
Christ is our Life.
Many are hungry,
who will be neighbor?
Where there is sharing,
Christ is our Life.
4 Now it is evening:
here in our meeting
may we remember
Christ is our Friend.
Some may be strangers,
who will be neighbor?
Where there's a welcome,
Christ is our Friend.
Confession of Sin:
Let us confess our sins to God.
Silence
Gracious and holy God,
we confess that we have sinned
against you and against our neighbour.
Your Spirit gives light,
but we have preferred darkness;
your Spirit gives wisdom,
but we have been foolish;
your Spirit gives power,
but we have trusted in our own strength.
For the sake of Jesus Christ, your Son, forgive our sins,
and enable us by your Spirit
to serve you in joyful obedience,
to the glory of your Name. Amen.
There is now no condemnation
for those who live in union with Christ Jesus; for the law of the Spirit of life
has set us free from the law of sin and death.
Amen. Thanks be to God.
Hymn of Preparation:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Ruth Duck’s “Living Spirit, Holy Fire.” [WnS #3108]
1 Living Spirit, holy fire,
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
2 Warm us, draw your people near
when our love draws weak or cold.
Free our frozen hearts from fear,
that each story may be told.
3 Melt away the masks we wear,
hiding what we know and feel.
Risking growth, we want to share
love in action, love that's real.
4 Open hearts; affirm us all,
many splendored, one in you,
we embrace the work, the call:
You are making all things new.
5 Living Spirit, holy fire,
burning bright to light our way,
blaze among us and inspire
lives that praise you day by day.
Opening Prayer:
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Silence
Faithful God,
you fulfilled the promise of Easter
by sending your Holy Spirit
and opening the way of eternal life
to all the human race.
Keep us in the unity of your Spirit,
that every tongue may tell of your glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Scripture Reading:
A reading from the New Testament (1 Corinthians 3: 1-9)
As a matter of fact, my friends, I could not talk to you as I talk to people who have the Spirit; I had to talk to you as though you belonged to this world, as children in the Christian faith. I had to feed you milk, not solid food, because you were not ready for it. And even now you are not ready for it, because you still live as the people of this world live. When there is jealousy among you and you quarrel with one another, doesn't this prove that you belong to this world, living by its standards? When one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos”—aren't you acting like worldly people?
After all, who is Apollos? And who is Paul? We are simply God's servants, by whom you were led to believe. Each one of us does the work which the Lord gave him to do: I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plant, but it was God who made the plant grow. The one who plants and the one who waters really do not matter. It is God who matters, because he makes the plant grow. There is no difference between the one who plants and the one who waters; God will reward each one according to the work each has done. For we are partners working together for God, and you are God's field.
Silence
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Who Is the Strongest Influence in Our Lives?
In this evening’s New Testament reading from his first letter to the Corinthians the apostle Paul draws to the attention of those to whom he wrote the letter a number of their failings as individuals who are supposed to be believers. They still live as the other Corinthians live. They become upset and angry with each other, and they quarrel with each other. They act like their fellow Corinthians who make no claim to be believers.
When I read this passage, I think about the complaint that I have heard from young people about Christians, young people who come from church background as well as those who have never attended a church. Their complaint is that Christians act no differently from everyone else except for listening to contemporary Christian music and going to church a couple of times a month. You cannot tell from the way that they live that they are Christians. As Paul puts it in the reading, they are living by the standards of the world.
It certainly undermines our credibility as disciples of Jesus when we do not live according to the principles that he taught and the example that he set. I am not talking about praying every day or reading our Bibles every day, or going to church on Sundays or whenever we go to church. I am talking about how we relate to our fellow Christians, to each other, and to other people around us, to those in our family, at school, at work, in the grocery store, on the street. Can people tell from our words and actions who is the strongest influence in our lives? Is it Jesus?
Jesus taught his disciples to be imitators of a particular quality of God’s character, God’s hesed, a Hebrew word which is translated as “loving kindness” and which describes all the positive attributes of God—love, faithfulness, mercy, grace, kindness, steadfastness. Paul urged those to whom he wrote to do the same. In our relationship with our fellow Christians and other people this translates into being firm and unchanging in our friendliness toward them just as God is toward us. There is a lot more to it, but this is our basic attitude toward them. We are kind, gentle, helpful, forgiving, considerate, trustworthy. When we have differences, we seek to resolve them in a peaceful manner. We have a positive effect on those around us. We build up others with our words and actions and not tear them down. We walk the path of reconciliation and not strife, violent or angry disagreement.
As Paul points to our attention in this passage from his first letter to the Corinthians, the way that we treat each other, how much Jesus’ message and teaching guide our lives, is a measure of our maturity in Christ, our maturity as Jesus’ followers.
The season of Lent begins the week after next. We think of the Lenten season as a season of fasting and self-denial. However, Lent is also a season for examining ourselves and identifying the things in our life that hinder us in following Jesus, for committing ourselves to doing something about these hindrances, and for becoming more open to God’s perfecting sanctifying grace in our lives. It is a season for rededicating ourselves to Christ and to the path of a true disciple.
Silence
Hymn of Response:
Open this link in anew to hear John Wesley's Covenant Prayer." [WnS # 3115]
1 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
2 Father, Son, and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
Father, Son and Spirit hear my cry,
forever I am yours and you are mine.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Bridge:
Let me be employed for you,
laid aside for you,
lifted high for you or brought low.
Let me be full, let me empty.
Let me have all things or nothing.
3 Lord, I am not mine, but yours alone.
Let your will be done and not my own.
Put me where you will, and let me serve;
in everything I do, let me endure.
This is my prayer, Lord, to you.
My promise and my vow, strong and true.
And the covenant I make on earth,
let it be fulfilled in heaven. Amen.
Concerns and Prayers
The following is prayed, during which any person may offer a brief prayer of intercession or petition.
After each prayer, the leader may conclude: God of mercy and all may respond: Hear our prayer.
Together, let us pray
for the people of this congregation...
for those who suffer and those in trouble...
for the concerns of this local community...
for the world, its peoples, and its leaders...
for the earth you have given to our care…
for the Church universal—its leaders, its members, and its mission...
in communion with the saints...
Accept our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord, who taught
us to pray,
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Closing Hymn:
Open this link in a new tab to hear Trevor Hodge’s musical setting of Bessy Porter Ann Head’s “O Breath of Life, Come Sweeping through Us.” [WAS #3146]*
1 O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
O Breath of life, come, cleanse, renew us,
and fit your church to meet this hour.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
2 O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,
till humbly we confess our need.
Then in your tenderness remake us;
revive, restore, for this we plead.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating
while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,
equip your church to spread the light.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
O Breath of love, come breathe within,
renewing thought and will and heart.
Come, love of Christ, afresh to win;
revive your church in every part.
Coda:
O Breath of life, come sweeping through us,
revive your church with life and power.
*This is a different musical setting from Carlton R. Young's setting in Worship and Song.
Benediction:
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen.
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