MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY
ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, JULY 16, 2023
SEVENTH 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
Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.
~Robert Louis Stevenson
BEFORE WE WORSHIP, WE REFLECT…
We can identify death in every direction. We see war, hunger, addiction, poverty, a dying planet, and broken hearts. This is not a new story. The children of Israel surely saw death in every direction, wandering in the desert and at least occasionally wondering about their next meal. Paul looks at his own life and, at first, sees nothing beyond spiritual death. He reminds us that death is not just physical, but also spiritual. Then, in the parable of the sower, three-fourths of the seeds die and three-fourths of the sections of the field are inhospitable to flourishing life. Sometimes, life isn’t even given a chance. We might look at the world and ourselves and only see the places that are absent and inhospitable to God’s love.
Today’s texts all go a step further, however, to articulate or reveal God bringing forth life where there is only death and God’s absence in every direction. First, God renews the covenant with the children of Israel. After their own failures and disobedience, God restores a relationship with the children of Israel and gives them “the best of all the land in Egypt” (Gen. 45:20) and “provisions for the journey” (Gen. 45:21). Paul reflects on God growing new branches where old tree branches had fallen away. The parable of the sower elicits reflection, repentance, and, ultimately, new life from its readers and hearers in considering the sort of spiritual life they practice. Are we hospitable or inhospitable to God’s word? This parable is a vivid reminder of all God has overcome—rocks, scorching sun, thorns, and snatching—to bring life to the world. God brings forth life in places where people see only death.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We acknowledge we gather and worship on Treaty 1 Territory, the original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.
Creator of all life, as long as there is breath in our bodies, and minds that function, fill us with your love for all, that we take the time to learn about the horrors endured, past and present, of the indigenous peoples of Canada, and around the world; to listen to the stories of those who endured, and overcame; to repent our corporate sin and strive to be people who choose to make a difference. May our words not be false or idle, our intentions paving the way to complicity. May we, like Jesus, truly seek justice, equity and respect for all our relations. Amen.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come, all who are thirsty!
Come to the water!
Are you broke? Come anyway – it doesn’t matter.
Buy whatever you like—it’s all free!
Don’t spend your money on junk food.
It won’t fill you up, and you’ll be hungry again right away.
Instead, fill your body with what it really needs:
good, solid food that will nourish and strengthen you.
Listen carefully to what I’m saying; come with your ears wide open!
For this is the way that leads to life.
CHILDREN’S SONG: WOV 765 Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us With Your Love
CENTERING PRAYER
Almighty God, we thank you for planting in us the seed of your word. By your Holy Spirit help us to receive it with joy, live according to it, and grow in faith and hope and love, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
MINUTE FOR MISSION: A Declaration to Be Involved in Decision Making
Selina Chipunza of Mutare is a member of the Anglican Church in Zimbabwe. During the 2022 Zimbabwe Council of Churches General Assembly, youth brought forward a declaration that they wanted to be engaged in decision making; that declaration was received.
“I’m so excited that I was one of the youth members to be appointed. I’m on the Human Resources, Governance and Compliance committee,” explains Selina.
Selina’s experiences as a lawyer are of great benefit to the committee. Previously, youth were not on these committees. “This is a success to us and we are all celebrating.”
Selina shared that now, whatever decision is being made, the interests of youth are included. These opportunities have “Given us opportunities to grow and learn in experience and careers. I can say with confidence that we are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today.”
Your gifts to Mission and Service help youth like Selina advocate to have their voices heard. Thank you.
CANADIAN LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF: Protecting small-scale farmers in El Salvador
Julio Gonsalez Vasquez is one of many vulnerable small farmers in El Salvador, whose corn fields are located in Zacatecoluca, an area known to be part of the Dry Corridor in Central America prone to irregular drought.
“I am a small farmer, I don’t own a lot,” Julio says. He has farmed in Zacatecoluca for a long time. He and his family work hard but the threat of drought or flood is never far. If either were to happen, they could lose everything they have planted. With no crop to sell, they would fall into debt and have to sell farming tools and equipment to survive, which would mean their next yield would become even harder to produce. Like many others, Julio was ready to give up on farming, which would have had a devastating impact on the country’s already low food supply.
In order to support farmers like Julio, CLWR has launched an innovative new form of crop insurance which offers compensation to farmers based on real-time satellite data. Claims are automatically triggered based on soil and weather data, which removes virtually all the work on the part of the farmer when making a claim. We are also providing training to the farmers who use the insurance and education on climate change resilience.
The project has provided a real life-line for Julio and many farmers like him, allowing them to continue farming through these challenging times and be better-prepared and resilient to the challenges they might face in the future.
CHILDREN’S CHAT
If you were to plant a garden, how would you plant it? Would you use string, so that your rows would be straight? Would you make a little trench in the soil and then space out your seeds? In the Gospel according to Matthew, God is a very generous, and a very reckless, sower of seeds!! God doesn’t care where the seeds land, God just throws handfuls of seeds in the air, and where they land, they land! They could land on rock, on poor soil, on good soil, in the bushes where the birds will eat them – God doesn’t care! The reason God doesn’t care is not because God doesn’t care about wasting the seeds. What God thinks is important is that you get enough seeds out in the world and they will eventually get found, and grow. The seeds, of course, is the news of God’s love. We are the ones God want to use to share the love of Jesus. The more people there are sharing, the more people hear the story!! Do we wait around to see if a person is moved by the love of Jesus? Nope! God wants us to keep sharing the story. God will look after peoples’ faith. God isn’t a reckless farmer after all. God is very generous, indeed!
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that as the Scriptures are read and your Word is proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.
READINGS AND PSALM
First Reading: Isaiah 55:10-13
God’s word to Israel’s exiles is as sure and effective as never-failing precipitation. Their return to the Holy Land in a new exodus is cheered on by singing mountains and by trees that clap their hands.
10For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
12For you shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress; instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Psalm 65:[1-8] 9-13
1You are to be praised, O God, in Zion; to you shall vows be fulfilled.
2To you, the one who answers prayer, to you all flesh shall come.
3Our sins are stronger than we are, but you blot out our transgressions.
4Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there! They will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the holiness of your temple.
5Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation, O hope of all the ends of the earth and of the oceans far away.
6You make firm the mountains by your power; you are girded about with might.
7You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the clamor of the peoples.
8Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs; you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
9You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous; the river of God is full of water. You prepare the grain, for so you provide for the earth.
10You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.
11You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.
12May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, and the hills be clothed with joy.
13May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; let them shout for joy and sing.
Second Reading: Romans 8:1-11
There is no condemnation for those who live in Christ. God sent Christ to accomplish what the law was unable to do: condemn sin and free us from its death-dealing ways. The Spirit now empowers proper actions and values in our lives and gives us the promise of resurrected life.
1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Gospel: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
In Matthew’s gospel, both Jesus and his disciples “sow the seed” of God’s word by proclaiming the good news that “the kingdom of heaven is near.” Now, in a memorable parable, Jesus explains why this good news produces different results in those who hear.
1That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9Let anyone with ears listen!”
18“Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
HYMN: VU 681 Where Cross The Crowded Ways of Life
SERMON: Bishop Larry Kochendorfer
Synod of Alberta and the Territories
Welcome to this summer sermon series that our Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada is providing for congregations. I am Larry Kochendorfer and I serve as the Bishop of the Synod of Alberta and the Territories.
It is great to be with you this Sunday and to be able to give your dear pastor or deacon and lay leaders some much-welcomed relief. Our rostered and lay leaders offer an incredible ministry but it’s hard work and we need to do everything we can to give them our encouragement and support!
The temptation for any preacher this morning is to jump right into the gospel lesson and to begin plowing through the land on which the farmer’s seed fell, digging up the soil that is similar between our lives and the path, the rocky ground, the thorns, and the good soil.
Often, we preachers, have focused exclusively on the four types of terrain Jesus describes. And so, within our ministries, and together with other leaders, we have thought about and worried over the hardened, rocky, thorny ground. We’ve agonized over how to cultivate more fertile soil. We’ve analyzed and quantified, assessed and judged. We’ve evaluated ministry plans and strategies, bought special pots, invested in high-end fertilizers and weed killers. We’ve counted, sorted, and planted seeds with exquisite care, placing each bit of God’s good news in its optimal place to guarantee an impressive harvest.
So, let’s jump right into today’s gospel reading and begin to till the soil.
I wondered this week if there was more to this parable. Something worth plowing up and tilling. Something worth taking another look at. Something surprising.
And two things jumped out at me – almost immediately. The word: “Listen!” and the action of the sower in casting the seed.
The gospel writer tells us that there were so many people beside the sea that day that Jesus had to enter a boat where he sat down – the posture of a teacher in the ancient world – while the great crowd stood on the beach. And before Jesus shares the parable of the sower and the seed – he speaks one word to the crowd: “Listen!”
Listen, not because people were talking, and he wanted them to be quiet – but listen because something important was going to be said.
Listen! It’s a word meant to awaken our ears today too, a word meant to jolt us out of whatever else we’re doing, whatever else we’re thinking about or worrying about, and get us to pay attention.
Listen! Something important, valuable, needed, surprising – is coming – and you don’t want to miss it!
“Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed…” Well, you know the story – some of the seed fell on the path where it quickly became food for the birds. Other seed fell among the rocks, the stones, the pebbles – and their growth was quickly scorched by the sun. And seed fell where thorns grew, and their growth was deliberately choked out by the thorns. And some of the seed fell on good soil and brought forth grain – an amazing amount of grain – an abundant crop.
“Let anyone with ears listen.” And there’s that little word again – listen – listen for there is something important, valuable, needed, surprising here – and you don’t want to miss it.
Once Jesus has my attention this morning – once I am listening for something I don’t want to miss – I am drawn to the work of the sower. But there really isn’t anything new here – farmers sow seed all the time, right? And anyone who knows anything at all about what a plant needs to grow won’t be surprised to hear that the seed cast in the middle of a path, or on the rocks, or among thorn doesn’t grow.
No, it’s not surprising that most of the seed didn’t grow.
But listen! What is surprising is that the farmer chose to sow the seed there – chose to cast the seed where a path meandered through, and rocks were in abundance, and thorns were thick as thieves.
Listen! The wise farmer makes sure to entrust the precious seed to the best of soil – dark and black, rich with moisture and possibility, tilled and ready for the seed. Even the farmers of Jesus’ day who cast the seed over the land did so on land prepared for the seed, prepared for growth, rocks removed, thorns dug out. But this farmer tosses the seed about here and there – as though the seed were available in unlimited supply.
Listen! The only conclusion that I can come to this morning – is that this is a crazy farmer! Who just scatters the seed? Who just tosses seed around apparently oblivious to where it will land? Who just grabs a handful of seed and flings it here and there?
Listen!
God – a farmer – a sower who is extravagant, reckless – perhaps even wasteful in desire and intent. God who casts the seed of the word, of grace, of forgiveness, of reconciliation, of promise, of life – God who casts this seed everywhere – in every place, in every life, in every community – God who casts this seed – listen! – for you – for me.
Extravagant grace for you – forgiveness for you – reconciliation for you – promise for you – life for you.
This sower – this farmer – God – who we know best in Jesus Christ and in his extravagant, reckless life and death – and life for us.
We know this extravagant, reckless, wasteful truth about God not only here but in many of the other parables. Remember that crazy shepherd who risked the lives of ninety-nine sheep to search for one lost sheep until it was found? Or the son who demanded his inheritance which he blew in a far-off place – and the father in the story who simply gave his son the inheritance and who runs out to meet him with joy when he returns home. Or the Samaritan who gave all that they had to bandage the wounds of the one lying in the ditch.
What are these parables if not parables of extravagance, recklessness, and waste? What are they if not stories about a God – the God we know in Jesus Christ – who is extravagant, reckless, and yes, wasteful – in God’s desire and intent to be in relationship with us?
This is the God we worship – one who casts the seed everywhere – in every place, in every life, in every community – but the story is not finished.
Listen! This one we worship calls us to a life of extravagance, to recklessness for the gospel, to wastefulness where there is no sign or evidence of hope or of life.
Listen! We are called to follow this living in our daily ministries – at work and home, in our neighborhood and faith community – riding the bus, caring for a neighbor, serving sandwiches for the homeless, listening to a friend, providing hospitality.
Following this one – this sower – who tosses the seed here and there – who seems unconcerned about where it will land – who seems unconcerned if the seed which is thrown is eaten by birds, or withers among the rocks, or is choked by the thorns, or grows in the good soil.
Debra Thomas, in her book, Into the Mess & Other Jesus Stories: Reflections on the Life of Christ, (©2022, Wipf and Stock Publishers, Eugene, OR) writes: “How I wish we were for being like the sower, going out in joy, scattering seed before and behind us in the widest arcs our arms can make. How I wish the world could laugh at our lavishness instead of recoiling from our stinginess. How I wish in the people in our lives could see a quiet, gentle confidence in us when we tend to the hard, rocky, thorny places in our communities, instead of finding us abrasive, judgmental, exacting, and insular. How I wish seeds of love, mercy, justice, humility, honor, and truthfulness would fall through our fingers in such appalling quantities that even the birds, the rocks, the thorns, and the shallow, sun-scorched corners of the world would burst into colorful, riotous life.
In a world overshadowed by sickness, scarcity, anxiety, suffering, and loss, what does the world need more than a sower who is lavish? A sower who errs on the side of wastefulness? A sower who would rather lose a bunch of seeds to inhospitable terrain than withhold a single one?”
A sower who calls us to sow joyfully, lavishly, recklessly, seeds of justice, peace, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, promise – on the path, among the rocks, amid the thorns, and in the good soil.
God, a sower who casts the seed everywhere – for the love of the world.
This is something worth plowing up and tilling. Something worth taking another look at.
Let anyone with ears – listen!
HYMN: VU 589 Lord, Speak To Me
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Confident that God receives our joys and concerns, let us offer our prayers for the church, those in need, and all of creation.
Guide your church, O God, to sow seeds of forgiveness and righteousness on good soil. Direct your people to proclaim your love in this congregation and throughout the world. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Sustain your creation, O God, by sending favorable weather, causing trees and fields to grow, protecting waterways from pollution, and instilling in all people the need to be good stewards. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Maintain peace among all people, O God, and raise up lawyers to work for justice in the courts, advocates to speak for the downtrodden, and politicians to work on behalf of the common good. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Heal those who are sick, O God. Guide health care workers to care for those who suffer, scientists to conduct lifesaving research, and counselors to care for victims of sexual abuse and exploitation. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Answer the prayers of those gathered in worship, O God. Protect those who travel near and far, accompany visitors to this congregation, and nurture our faith. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Inspire us by the faithful departed, O God, examples of your embodied love, whose confidence in the resurrection guides us in living lives worthy of the gospel. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Into your hands, O God, we commend all for whom we pray, in the name of the one who reconciled all creation to himself, Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SENDING SONG: WOV 750 Oh, Praise The Gracious Power
BENEDICTION
May the beauty of God be reflected in your eyes, the love of God be reflected in your hands, the wisdom of God be reflected in your words, and the knowledge of God flow from your heart, that all might see, and seeing, believe. Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PASTOR LESLIE is on holiday. She returns on Saturday August 5th. Should you require pastoral care during her absence, please contact Debbie Swift who will put you in touch with the emergency clergy.
REMINDER: THE CHURCH WILL BE CLOSED FOR THE MONTH OF JULY. WE WILL RESUME WORSHIP ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 13TH
The online worship services will be posted on the Morris United Church website throughout July.