MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY
ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2024
THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Due to copyright limitations, we are unable to print the words to many of the songs. However, our musicians have chosen music to fit the scriptures. We invite you to look up the words in your worship book and ponder them. If you do not have a worship book, ponder the words of one of your favourite hymns and listen for God’s voice. Those who have the internet may find the songs on YouTube.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
~Nelson Mandela
Before we worship, we reflect…
All too often we interpret images of “flesh” in a negative light. While some Pauline language inspires this understanding, consider the ways flesh appears positively in scripture. In the first reading from Proverbs, it is the flesh of sacrifices that not only constitutes Israel’s worship but also feeds all in need. In Ephesians the Holy Spirit’s filling of our bodies counteracts inebriation with other substances, vivifying our flesh for the good. John reminds us that our eucharistic participation in Christ’s flesh binds us thoroughly to God’s life. In what ways have we filled the flesh of others or flesh of the earth with poisonous chemicals and phobias? How might the Spirit and flesh of the living God bring new life to bodies in this world?
Nelson Mandela, who played a leading role in ending Apartheid and fostering reconciliation in South Africa, said “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” When we feast at the banquet table of wisdom, we open ourselves to learning more about the world, others’ perspectives and lived experiences. It is through these insights and experiences that we will find that we can change the world through wisdom, not war.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge we gather and worship on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Anishininew, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Great God of Compassion, God of Healing, God of Love, we come before you this morning with our hearts full of love and concern for …our community, …the highways, the waters on which we work and recreate, the lands and the woods where we like to explore, find solace, and renew our spirits.
…Forgive our failures; forgive us for the times we have been impatient with others, when we have not listened with openness to other points of view, and for our weakness, our tiredness, our feelings of discouragement, and our lack of courage.
We pray that peace be with our neighbours today, every day and always, and with ourselves and with all those we love. Amen.[1]
CALL TO WORSHIP
Welcome to worship!
We come seeking healing and hope.
You have come to the right place. God awaits you.
Even though we have not always followed the ways God would have us go;
God loves, forgives, and awaits you.
Praise be to the patient, steadfast love of God.[2]
GATHERING SONG: With One Voice 699 Blessed Assurance
CENTERING PRAYER
Ever-loving God, your Son gives himself as living bread for the life of the world. Fill us with such a knowledge of his presence that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life to serve you continually, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
CHILDREN’S CHAT
I don’t know about your family, but for Christmas supper in my family, my parents always invited my godparents, friends and relatives to join us for supper around the table. My mom would set the table with fine china, and I had to clean the silverware so it sparkled next to the beauty of the china plates! There was a cloth tablecloth, and cloth napkins with silver napkin rings – which I also had to polish!
My mom had special drinking glasses that were very thin and different colours. I loved those glasses! When the sun shone on the table, they sparkled! Everything had to be perfect for our dinner guests!
The thing is, it wasn’t the fancy table, delicious food or Christmas music that made the meal special for me. It was the people around the table. I loved everyone seated around me, and that is why my memories of Christmas supper are so special.
This Sunday we celebrate Holy Communion during worship. Jesus is inviting us to have the bread/wine/grape juice in his honour. The table isn’t set with fine china, we don’t have to wear our best clothes, and we don’t have to be perfect to receive the invitation. Jesus loves us and wants us to eat and drink with him. Jesus’ love is in the food, and that love of Jesus inside us is what we share with others. Everyone is invited because everyone is loved by Jesus. Now that is special!
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Almighty God, in you are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of your Word; and give us grace that we may clearly understand and freely choose the way of your wisdom; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
READINGS AND PSALM
First Reading: Proverbs 9:1-6
Wisdom is portrayed as a woman who invites people to partake of her banquet. Just as ordinary food is necessary for physical life, Wisdom’s food—insight and understanding—is necessary for fullness of life with God. Partaking of Wisdom’s banquet is the way to life.
1Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.
2She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.
3She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,
4“You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,
5“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”
Psalm 34:9-14
Those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good. (Ps. 34:10)
9Fear the Lord, you saints of the Lord, for those who fear the Lord lack nothing.
10The lions are in want and suffer hunger, but those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good. R
11Come, children, and listen to me; I will teach you reverence for the Lord.
12Who among you takes pleasure in life and desires long life to enjoy prosperity?
13Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from lying words.
14Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. R
Second Reading: Ephesians 5:15-20
True wisdom integrates our new reality in Christ with our Christian fellowship and daily conduct. Because we are filled with the Spirit, Christians regularly rejoice together, give thanks to God for one another, and care for one another. In this way we revere our Lord Jesus Christ.
15Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel: John 6:51-58
In John’s gospel, the feeding of the five thousand leads to extended teaching in which Jesus identifies himself as the true “bread of life.” Finally, in these verses, he makes a connection that would not be understood until after his death, in light of the church’s celebration of holy communion.
51“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
HYMN: With One Voice 711 You Satisfy The Hungry Heart
SERMON: Rev. Prema Samuel, Assistant to the Bishop, Synod of Alberta and the Territories
Another segment of this bread of life series from John. We heard for years and even in the last few weeks of Christ as the bread of life from heaven. We might have heard of bread the most common food in numerous cultures, many different variations but bread – these days, gluten free, dairy free, accommodations for the many allergies. But still Bread! And here we are again once more gathered to hear, to be fed and nourished with the bread of Christ. It is a beautiful blessing to join you once again this year through the ELCIC summer sermon series, giving the Pastors, diaconal ministers and all worship leaders a small reprieve.
I am Rev. Prema Samuel, serving as the Assistant to the Bishop for congregational Life of the Synod of Alberta and the Territories. As I record this sermon, I am greeting you from the beautiful and traditional territories of the Lkwungen (lek-wen-gen), Malahat, Pacheedaht (pah-chee-da) Scia’new (Chee-a-new), T’Sou-ke (so-ok)and W̱SÁNEĆ (Wh-say-nich) peoples. As I am blessed with the many experiences here during my stay here, I invite you to look around at the land in which you join us from. Gathering in the blessedness of this land, I invite you to take a moment to acknowledge our traditional hosts and honour their welcome and graciousness to us as we work, pray and play on this land.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Here is God, taking on human flesh in order to have a personal relationship with each of us. This is a Saviour who taught us how to live, what it means to be human, what it means to serve the world around us and what it means to follow God.
Baking sourdough bread requires wild yeast. You can’t just go to a store and buy it; you have to “catch” it. You put a cup of flour and water on the counter and let it catch dust and other particles. Before you know it, it’s alive. It breathes and eats. You have to nurture it and continue to feed it until it grows. This becomes the “starter” for the bread. The living Father is the bread starter. Breathing and growing, this starter abides in the Savior, the bread from heaven. In the Nicene Creed, we profess that Jesus is “begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father” (ELW, p. 104). Jesus, the bread of life, is the same substance as the living Father, wild and wonderful, creating and sustaining life.
This is a Saviour who took on the great weight of our killing sin and made sure that this weight was no longer ours to bear. On the cross, our lives were given back to us, now and always. And in the resurrection, we were bound to Christ forever, for as Paul says:
“Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
This is our Saviour, who loves us beyond our comprehension. This is our Saviour who, in our reading for today, tells us that he is our very life and that in eating and drinking of his flesh and blood we are connected to Christ forever and we are made to know God’s life because of it. We celebrate this truth and promise every time we participate in the Eucharist. Christ with us, as close to us as the bread we eat and the wine we drink.
What is this Jesus thinking and saying? Eat flesh and drink blood, the thought is grotesque. To add it to, in this installment of the “bread of life” discourse in John 6, in the Greek beginning with verse 54, Jesus speaks not of “partaking” in the bread of life, but of “munching” or “chewing.” It’s a slow process of rumination. Cows are an example of animals that eat this way. They are called ruminants and have a four-chambered stomach.
Life – this precious given life with no strings attached. What is this life that we want it so much? Even after being affirmed that this life is a gift given, want to ensure there are indeed no strings attached, just in case there is some fine print we are failing to see.
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Now, here is that fine print. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them. Our own journey of processing the bread of life is a long one of abiding and ruminating in our faith.
Watch out people, here comes the kicker!
To eat this God’s flesh and drink his blood is to abide in this Christ. This is dangerous business. To eat and drink , so we can have life eternal is one thing, but to abide in this Christ and he in us??? Do we dare realize and acknowledge the full extent of what this means – to be Those who eat his flesh and drink his blood abide in him, and he in us.
Here is the danger – to abide in this Christ having consumed him. To have this Christ in us. This Jesus who walked the dirty roads, to see, to pay attention to and speak with the blind, lame, persons with questionable character, often questioning the ’norm’, challenging the status-quo. To risk the life of being questioned, mocked, even ostracized.
We are regularly fed freely with this proclamation of life through sermons and the Eucharist to live a life of imperfect but unintentional journeying with Christ in us, attempting, in our broken ways, to embody the Christ in us.
Do we seek to serve others and this hurting world, making this a priority in our lives? Do we give of ourselves as Christ did?
We catch the Christ all around us and are fed by the Spirit and we rise. That’s a given!
Our Old Testament reading calls us to Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” Lay aside the immaturity of complacency – our good old ways, the golden days of large numbers of people in the churches. Of meeting the needs of people who looked, acted like us. We continue to rise in Christ’s spirit, given the courage and wisdom to be Christ’s hands, feet and heart in this ever-changing world. Our world, our community no longer looks like it did in the good old days. And we are still fed and nourished to feed the current community, which is very different.
Here is this Christ who cannot be still and quiet and be happy with what is going well and according to the standard humans have set. Standards that discriminate anyone who is the other. Standards that want to make the other like us – to fit the ‘status quo’. Here is the Christ who cannot tolerate anyone being made the ‘other’.
This is the Christ we consume and crucify because he is dangerous. Dangerous because his Spirit stands for the healing and wholeness and oneness of all of God’s creation. We crucify him again because it scares, or disgusts, or asks us to sacrifice too much.
I wish I could stand here and speak better news. But I can’t. We fear Christ’s passionate and dangerous love imparting his very self to us. We fall short. And the world suffers.
I am sorry I can’t give better news. But honestly, there is no greater news than this. For despite our failings and weaknesses, despite how we may never be better than what we are, with our fleeting moments of discipleship followed by long moments of living in fear, our Saviour still continues to forgive us, heal us, nourish us and fill us with the same bread from heaven.
It doesn’t make any sense. Generation after generation of humanity have fallen short. It would seem like we deserve the flood rather than the blessings of the cross, but Christ doesn’t see it that way. He doesn’t stop offering to us and all of God created wholeness and salvation. The blessings of the cross are not rescinded. The alleviation of sin never ceases. The resurrection promise is never taken away. We fail, but Christ never does. We fall short, but Christ never does. We choose to remain in fear but Christ comes again to remind of the life. We choose to ignore the family, but Christ continues to call us to be God’s family.
As we come to the table again, may we hear God’s abiding urge in us. May we see the courageous love to courageously love.
In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, and gave thanks; broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying: Take and eat; this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.
Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me.
This is Christ’s love. This is Christ’s abiding. We fall short. Christ picks us up. We fall short. And Christ offers us life again. We fall short. And Christ challenges us to follow him and inspires us to serve. The good news hurts when we know we fall short. The good news is life when we know it will never be taken from us. The good news is our inspiration to abide in Christ and he in us. The good news is life, as close to us as bread and wine, taken in all humility and awe as we approach the altar. The good news is Christ and Christ’s sacred love for us all. And that is truly the greatest news we could possibly hear. May we embody this Christ in us. Amen
HYMN: Voices United 460 All Who Hunger
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Calling on the spirit of Wisdom to guide our hearts and our minds, let us pray for the church, the world, and all in need.
Wisdom has built her house. May the church be a house of wisdom for all who enter. May we continue to grow and stretch in ways we never thought possible. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Wisdom has mixed her wine. May the harvest seasons be plentiful this year. We pray for orchards, vineyards, farms, and all of creation. Protect and conserve the earth. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Wisdom has employed her laborers. Be with all who seek adequate employment. Guide our economic and governmental leaders to support the people of our world with fair wages and safe working conditions. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Wisdom has invited her guests. Make your presence known to all who feel lost, abandoned, or hurting at this time. Direct your spirit of care to all who seek healing and comfort. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Wisdom has set her table. May this congregation be a welcome table to all who seek the refuge of God. Break down walls and barriers that prevent us from offering a seat at this table to anyone who comes. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
Wisdom has shown her path of insight. May we journey on her paths, looking toward a bright future while remembering from where we have come. We give our thanks for those who have gone before us. Merciful God,
receive our prayer.
We lift up these prayers to you, gracious God. Receive them into your holy keeping.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SENDING SONG: Voices United p. 884 (x2) You Shall Go Out With Joy
BENEDICTION
The blessing of God, who provides for us, feeds us, and journeys with us, be upon you now and forever. Amen.
Copyright © 2016 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS011617.
© 2011 The United Church of Canada/L’Église Unie du Canada. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike Licence. To view a copy of this licence, visit: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/byncsa/2.5/ca.
[2] https://www.ministrymatters.com/worship/entry/2995/worship-connection-august-15-2021