Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, July 21, 2024)
Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows.
You may have heard a church building described as “the house of God.” You may have described your own church building as “the house of God.” But “the house of God” is not a building at all, not a structure made from wood, stone, or brick. It is the people who gather in that building on Sundays and at other times. They are “the house of God.”
In this Sunday’s message we take a look at what this is all about.
GATHER IN GOD’S NAME
The Lord be with you.
The Lord bless you.
We thank you, O God, that you have again brought
us together on the Lord’s Day, if not in person, then in spirit,
to praise you for your goodness and to ask your blessing.
Give us grace to see your hand in the week that is past, and
your purpose in the week to come; through Christ our
Lord. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Timothy R. Smith’s “Come, Let Us Ring Out.”
Intro
Come, let us ring,
Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Refrain
Come, let us ring,
Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Verse 1
Let us come into his presence giving thanks;
let us hail him with a song of praise.
A mighty God is the Lord,
a great king above all other gods.
Refrain
Come, let us ring,
Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Verse 2
In his hands are the depths of the earth;
the heights of the mountains are his.
To him belong the sea, for he made it.
And the dry land that he shaped by his hands.
Refrain
Come, let us ring,
Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Verse 3
O come let us bow and bend low.
Let us kneel before the God who made us,
For he is our God and we
the people who belong to his pasture,
the flock that is led by his hand.
Refrain
Come, let us ring,
Come, let us ring out our joy to the Lord;
hail the rock who saves us.
Coda
Hail the rock who saves us.
God has promised forgiveness
to all who truly repent,
turn to Christ in faith
and are themselves forgiving.
Let us confess our sins to God our Father
Silence
Almighty and merciful God
we have sinned against you,
in thought, word and deed.
We have not loved you with all our heart.
We have not loved others as our Saviour Christ loves us.
We are truly sorry.
In your mercy forgive what we have been,
help us to amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be;
that we may delight in your will
and walk in your ways;
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Amen.
Merciful Lord, grant to your faithful people pardon and peace,
that we may be cleansed from all our sins,
and serve you with a quiet mind;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Laura Story and Jesse Reeves’ “Indescribable.”
From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation’s revealing Your majesty
From the colours of Fall to the fragrance of Spring
Every creature unique and the song that it sings, all exclaiming:
Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
All-powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God
Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go?
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow?
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light?
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night?
None can fathom
Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
All-powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God
You are amazing, God
Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
All-powerful, untameable
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing, God
Indescribable, uncontainable
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing, God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing, God
You are amazing, God
Open this link in a new tab to hear Sarah Hart’s “Great and Wonderful Lord.”
1 You are holy, you are Lord,
and your works are wonderful,
great and strong Most High almighty.
2 You are Father, you are king,
good and wise, true and living.
You are peace and rest abiding.
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
Wonderful Lord.
3 You are beauty, you are friend,
our protector, you defend.
You are hope and faith, our Savior.
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
Oh wonderful Lord
Oh you are wonderful Lord
4 You are mercy, you are love,
all we need, more than enough,
for in you is life everlasting.
Oh you are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
Oh you are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
Oh wonderful, Lord.
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
You are great and wonderful, Lord.
(You are great and wonderful.)
Wonderful Lord,
wonderful Lord
so so wonderful.
Let us pray
Silence
Almighty God,
whose never-failing providence governs all things
in heaven and earth:
we humbly ask you to put away from us all hurtful things,
and to give us whatever may be profitable for us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD
A reading from the Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 23, Verses 1-6
“What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord.
Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: “Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord, have spoken!
“For the time is coming,”
says the Lord,
“when I will raise up a righteous descendant[a]
from King David’s line.
He will be a King who rules with wisdom.
He will do what is just and right throughout the land.
And this will be his name:
‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’
In that day Judah will be saved,
and Israel will live in safety.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Marty Haugen’s “Shepherd Me, O God” (Psalm 23).
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
1 God is my shepherd, so nothing I shall want,
I rest in the meadows of faithfulness and love,
I walk by the quiet waters of peace.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life.
2 Gently you raise me and heal my weary soul,
you lead me by pathways of righteousness and truth,
my spirit shall sing the music of your Name.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life
3 Though I should wander the valley of death,
I fear no evil, for you are at my side,
your rod and your staff, my comfort and my hope.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life
4 You have set me a banquet of love in the face of hatred,
crowning me with love beyond my pow’r to hold.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life
5 Surely your kindness and mercy follow me all the days of my life;
I will dwell in the house of my God forevermore.
Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants,
beyond my fears, from death into life
A reading from Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verses 11-22
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Fintan O'Carroll and Christopher Walker’s “Celtic Alleluia.”
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
The Word of the Lord lasts for ever.
What is the Word that is living?
It is brought to us
through his Son Jesus Christ.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 6, Verses 30-34; 53-56
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat to shore and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was. Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.
Silence
In the first century world in which Paul lived and in which he wrote the young church at Ephesus, the wall that divided Jew from non-Jew was a very high one. Non-Jews were banned from all but the outermost precincts of the Temple at Jerusalem while the blind, the lame, and eunuchs were banned from the Temple altogether. Based upon how they interpreted the teaching of the Old Testament, the Jews of Paul’s time believed that these groups of people were ritually impure and would defile the precincts of the Temple and anyone who had contact with them. Due to their religious beliefs, they established rigid boundaries between Jews and non-Jews and very pious Jews would go to great lengths to avoid contact with them. In the past mingling with people who had different gods from theirs had led them to abandon God for these gods and adopting practices that were forbidden by God such as the worship of idols and divination.
The Jews also believed that every nation or people group and its own god and the God of Abraham and Moses was their god. He had chosen them as his people and had made a covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai and they and they alone as the descendants of the Israelites were the beneficiaries of this covenant. Those outside the covenant they believed as Paul put it “were withou God and without hope.” These beliefs had led some Jews to feel superior to non-Jews and to despise them.
Before we pat ourselves on the back and say to ourselves that we are better than they were, let us not forget that Christians have persecuted the Jews over the centuries. In churches that read the Gospel of the Passion during Holy Week, the account of Jesus’s arrest, trial, suffering, and death, the congregation is invited to join with the crowd in calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, a reminder that all humanity is responsible for his death, not just the Jews. Jesus’ crucifixion does not justify the pogroms, the acts of organized cruel behavior and killing done to the Jews in centuries past or their mass extermination in Germany and German-occupied territory in more recent times—during Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich.
Regrettably antisemitism, hate directed at Jewish people, is once more on the rise in our time, not only on the extreme right of the political spectrum but also on the extreme left. Jewish people have been harassed and physically assaulted. Jewish community centers and synagogues have been the target of shootings in which a number of people have been killed or wounded.
Christians have also established boundaries between themselves and various groups of people, essentially closing the doors of their churches to the members of these groups, based upon their race, ethnicity, national origin language, education, class, lifestyle, and things like that. These boundaries may have been in some cases deliberate and in other cases unconscious. They create barriers or obstacles that keep people from hearing Jesus’ message and teaching and from responding to his call.
I recall two woman who visited a former church of mine. They received a cold-shoulder from just about everyone except for the pastor and I. They were not as educated or as well-heeled as the people who regularly attended the church.
A former pastor of mine tells a story of a visit he paid to a church while on vacation. He was in shirt sleeves. He received unfriendly stares from the regular attendees of the church, and no one spoke to him. They fawned all over him after learning from the pastor who greeted him, that he was a pastor too.
Christians are not very good at following the example of Jesus who met people where they were and mingled with those whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the law thought to be beyond redemption. The boundaries that we establish are often boundaries of the heart and they keep us not only from loving our neighbors as ourselves but also from loving one another as Jesus loves us.
What Paul is telling the church at Ephesus is that Jesus put an end to the division between Jew and non-Jew with his suffering and death on the cross. He made them into one people. The God and Father of Jesus is the God and Father of all people who repent from sin and turn in faith to Jesus regardless of what was their ethnic or religious background. They all are God’s holy people. They are all members of God’s family. They are all members of the house of God.
What’s more, Paul tells them, is God is making them into a holy temple for himself, a dwelling in which he in the person of the Holy Spirit lives. As the apostle Peter put it, God is building a spiritual temple from living stones (1 Peter 2:5).
This is true for Christians today as it was for the church at Ephesus then. In Jesus God revealed that he was not just the Shepherd of Israel. He is the Shepherd of all humanity. The holy temple that God is making for himself is composed of all kinds of people from all walks of life.
If you read the Acts of the Apostles, you will see how the early followers of Jesus struggled to come to terms with this knowledge. Some even taught that in order become a disciple of Jesus, one had to become a Jew and be circumcised if he was male. On several occasion God showed that the way to salvation and to a life of discipleship was for Samaritans and non-Jews by pouring out his Spirit upon them.
We need to remember that God is the one who is making a holy temple for himself. We are not the ones who are building this spiritual temple. The part that we are to play in its construction is to faithfully carryout what Jesus commanded us to do and what he modeled for us. We need to trust God and leave to him who he joins together into his house. What we may think is not a good stone for God’s holy temple, God is quite capable of reshaping and retooling for his purposes. God does not have our limitations. God exists outside of time and space. The past, the present, and the future are one to him. He sees in each of us not only who we were and who we are but also who we will be.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Bernadette Farrell’s “You Have Called Us by Our Name.”
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
1 You have chosen us
to be members of your family.
In your love you have created
us to live in unity.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
2 You will lead us to your light,
walk before us through the night.
You will guide us on our journey.
You will keep our vision bright.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
3 You will hold us when we fall,
give new strength to hear your call.
You will never be beyond us,
for your love is all in all.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
4 You will nourish, you will lead,
giving ev'ry gift we need,
for your reign will be established
from the smallest of all seeds.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
5 Through our sharing here today
may our faith and life convey.
Christ our light and Christ our vision,
Christ our purpose, Christ our way.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
Let us confess our faith, as we say:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
Almighty and everliving God,
hear the prayers which we offer in faith and love:
For peace, and for your salvation to be known throughout the world …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church
and for the unity of all Christian people …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who serve and lead in your Church,
for bishops, elders, deacons, licesed local pastors and other ministers...
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all your people, growing in the faith of Christ,
and passing it on to generations yet to come …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who live and work in this community …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For families, and for those who live alone …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who are sick in body or in mind,
and for those who care for them …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all in authority,
and especially for [Canada: Charles our King] [United States: our President] …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who have been entrusted with the responsibility of government …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For those who work for peace, justice and righteousness throughout the
world …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
Rejoicing in the fellowship of your holy apostles and martyrs, and of all your servants departed this life in your faith and fear, we commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to you, Lord God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Bob Gillman’s “Bind Us Together, Lord.”
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That cannot be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
1 There is only one God.
There is only one King
There is only one body
that is why we sing
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That cannot be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
2 Made for the glory of God.
Purchased by His precious Son
Born with the right to be clean
For Jesus the victory has won
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That can not be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
3 You are the family of God.
You are the promise divine
You are God's chosen desire.
You are the glorious new wine
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That can not be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
THE SENDING OUT OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Holy and everliving God,
by your power we are created
and by your love we are redeemed;
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves to your service,
and live each day in love to one another and to you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The love of the Father enfold us,
the wisdom of the Son enlighten us,
the fire of the Spirit enflame us;
and the blessing of God, the Three in One,
be upon us and abide with us now and for ever. Amen.
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Those present may exchange a gesture of peace with these or similar words:
Peace be with you.
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Fintan O'Carroll and Christopher Walker’s “Celtic Alleluia.”
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
The Word of the Lord lasts for ever.
What is the Word that is living?
It is brought to us
through his Son Jesus Christ.
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!
A reading from the Gospel according to Mark, Chapter 6, Verses 30-34; 53-56
The apostles returned to Jesus from their ministry tour and told him all they had done and taught. Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat.
So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.
After they had crossed the lake, they landed at Gennesaret. They brought the boat to shore and climbed out. The people recognized Jesus at once, and they ran throughout the whole area, carrying sick people on mats to wherever they heard he was. Wherever he went—in villages, cities, or the countryside—they brought the sick out to the marketplaces. They begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed.
Silence
“God Is Building a House….”
In the first century world in which Paul lived and in which he wrote the young church at Ephesus, the wall that divided Jew from non-Jew was a very high one. Non-Jews were banned from all but the outermost precincts of the Temple at Jerusalem while the blind, the lame, and eunuchs were banned from the Temple altogether. Based upon how they interpreted the teaching of the Old Testament, the Jews of Paul’s time believed that these groups of people were ritually impure and would defile the precincts of the Temple and anyone who had contact with them. Due to their religious beliefs, they established rigid boundaries between Jews and non-Jews and very pious Jews would go to great lengths to avoid contact with them. In the past mingling with people who had different gods from theirs had led them to abandon God for these gods and adopting practices that were forbidden by God such as the worship of idols and divination.
The Jews also believed that every nation or people group and its own god and the God of Abraham and Moses was their god. He had chosen them as his people and had made a covenant with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai and they and they alone as the descendants of the Israelites were the beneficiaries of this covenant. Those outside the covenant they believed as Paul put it “were withou God and without hope.” These beliefs had led some Jews to feel superior to non-Jews and to despise them.
Before we pat ourselves on the back and say to ourselves that we are better than they were, let us not forget that Christians have persecuted the Jews over the centuries. In churches that read the Gospel of the Passion during Holy Week, the account of Jesus’s arrest, trial, suffering, and death, the congregation is invited to join with the crowd in calling for Jesus’ crucifixion, a reminder that all humanity is responsible for his death, not just the Jews. Jesus’ crucifixion does not justify the pogroms, the acts of organized cruel behavior and killing done to the Jews in centuries past or their mass extermination in Germany and German-occupied territory in more recent times—during Adolph Hitler’s Third Reich.
Regrettably antisemitism, hate directed at Jewish people, is once more on the rise in our time, not only on the extreme right of the political spectrum but also on the extreme left. Jewish people have been harassed and physically assaulted. Jewish community centers and synagogues have been the target of shootings in which a number of people have been killed or wounded.
Christians have also established boundaries between themselves and various groups of people, essentially closing the doors of their churches to the members of these groups, based upon their race, ethnicity, national origin language, education, class, lifestyle, and things like that. These boundaries may have been in some cases deliberate and in other cases unconscious. They create barriers or obstacles that keep people from hearing Jesus’ message and teaching and from responding to his call.
I recall two woman who visited a former church of mine. They received a cold-shoulder from just about everyone except for the pastor and I. They were not as educated or as well-heeled as the people who regularly attended the church.
A former pastor of mine tells a story of a visit he paid to a church while on vacation. He was in shirt sleeves. He received unfriendly stares from the regular attendees of the church, and no one spoke to him. They fawned all over him after learning from the pastor who greeted him, that he was a pastor too.
Christians are not very good at following the example of Jesus who met people where they were and mingled with those whom the Pharisees and the teachers of the law thought to be beyond redemption. The boundaries that we establish are often boundaries of the heart and they keep us not only from loving our neighbors as ourselves but also from loving one another as Jesus loves us.
What Paul is telling the church at Ephesus is that Jesus put an end to the division between Jew and non-Jew with his suffering and death on the cross. He made them into one people. The God and Father of Jesus is the God and Father of all people who repent from sin and turn in faith to Jesus regardless of what was their ethnic or religious background. They all are God’s holy people. They are all members of God’s family. They are all members of the house of God.
What’s more, Paul tells them, is God is making them into a holy temple for himself, a dwelling in which he in the person of the Holy Spirit lives. As the apostle Peter put it, God is building a spiritual temple from living stones (1 Peter 2:5).
This is true for Christians today as it was for the church at Ephesus then. In Jesus God revealed that he was not just the Shepherd of Israel. He is the Shepherd of all humanity. The holy temple that God is making for himself is composed of all kinds of people from all walks of life.
If you read the Acts of the Apostles, you will see how the early followers of Jesus struggled to come to terms with this knowledge. Some even taught that in order become a disciple of Jesus, one had to become a Jew and be circumcised if he was male. On several occasion God showed that the way to salvation and to a life of discipleship was for Samaritans and non-Jews by pouring out his Spirit upon them.
We need to remember that God is the one who is making a holy temple for himself. We are not the ones who are building this spiritual temple. The part that we are to play in its construction is to faithfully carryout what Jesus commanded us to do and what he modeled for us. We need to trust God and leave to him who he joins together into his house. What we may think is not a good stone for God’s holy temple, God is quite capable of reshaping and retooling for his purposes. God does not have our limitations. God exists outside of time and space. The past, the present, and the future are one to him. He sees in each of us not only who we were and who we are but also who we will be.
Silence
Open this link in a new tab to hear Bernadette Farrell’s “You Have Called Us by Our Name.”
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
1 You have chosen us
to be members of your family.
In your love you have created
us to live in unity.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
2 You will lead us to your light,
walk before us through the night.
You will guide us on our journey.
You will keep our vision bright.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
3 You will hold us when we fall,
give new strength to hear your call.
You will never be beyond us,
for your love is all in all.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
4 You will nourish, you will lead,
giving ev'ry gift we need,
for your reign will be established
from the smallest of all seeds.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
5 Through our sharing here today
may our faith and life convey.
Christ our light and Christ our vision,
Christ our purpose, Christ our way.
You have called us by our name,
we belong to you.
You have called us by our name
and we are yours.
Let us confess our faith, as we say:
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
THE MINISTRY OF PRAYER
Almighty and everliving God,
hear the prayers which we offer in faith and love:
For peace, and for your salvation to be known throughout the world …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church
and for the unity of all Christian people …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who serve and lead in your Church,
for bishops, elders, deacons, licesed local pastors and other ministers...
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all your people, growing in the faith of Christ,
and passing it on to generations yet to come …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who live and work in this community …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For families, and for those who live alone …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who are sick in body or in mind,
and for those who care for them …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all in authority,
and especially for [Canada: Charles our King] [United States: our President] …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For all who have been entrusted with the responsibility of government …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
For those who work for peace, justice and righteousness throughout the
world …
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer
Rejoicing in the fellowship of your holy apostles and martyrs, and of all your servants departed this life in your faith and fear, we commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to you, Lord God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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, and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.
Open this link in a new tab to hear Bob Gillman’s “Bind Us Together, Lord.”
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That cannot be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
1 There is only one God.
There is only one King
There is only one body
that is why we sing
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That cannot be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
2 Made for the glory of God.
Purchased by His precious Son
Born with the right to be clean
For Jesus the victory has won
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That can not be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
3 You are the family of God.
You are the promise divine
You are God's chosen desire.
You are the glorious new wine
Bind us together Lord, bind us together with cords
That can not be broken
Bind us together Lord, bind us together
Bind us together with love
THE SENDING OUT OF GOD’S PEOPLE
Holy and everliving God,
by your power we are created
and by your love we are redeemed;
guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,
that we may give ourselves to your service,
and live each day in love to one another and to you,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Let us bless the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
The love of the Father enfold us,
the wisdom of the Son enlighten us,
the fire of the Spirit enflame us;
and the blessing of God, the Three in One,
be upon us and abide with us now and for ever. Amen.
The peace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Those present may exchange a gesture of peace with these or similar words:
Peace be with you.
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