MORRIS-ROSENFELD ECUMENICAL SHARED MINISTRY
ORDER OF SERVICE FOR SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2024
TWENTY THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
PEACE SUNDAY
REFORMATION
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
“In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no one by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached and wrote God’s Word; otherwise, I did nothing. And while I slept, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philipp and Amsdorf, the Word … did everything.”
—Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Before we worship, we reflect…
In many congregations, Reformation Sunday is treated as a sort of “Lutheran heritage” day, a time for singing chorales and remembering the theological reforms of the sixteenth century that gave birth to Lutheranism. In other parishes, a greater focus is placed on the church’s need for continual reform; the church’s history is secondary to an emphasis on the issues and needs of the church today. Both approaches have much to commend them.
But the true center of this day is found in the appointed readings. In Jeremiah we are reminded of a new covenant and the promise that God will forgive, the promise written on our hearts. In Romans Paul brings the full force of the law to bear on our lives: “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). With this reality, how can we have any hope apart from divine grace? Finally, in the gospel reading from John we are reminded that our freedom comes from Christ alone. We are neither bound to the past nor slaves to our anxieties of the present.
Psalm 46 brings all of this together with the powerful proclamation: “God is our refuge and strength.” The God we know in the person of Jesus is the one we can turn to in times of crisis, the one we call upon in times of fear, the one we trust to pour out mercy and forgiveness upon us. This Jesus is our solid foundation. In a world of chaos, confusion, and change there is a constant: the enduring and life-giving grace of God.
On Reformation Sunday—as every Sunday—we remember that we are not ashamed of this good news, this gospel.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT & PRAYER
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.
Creator God we live and love imperfectly. You called us to love our neighbour as ourselves but collectively we have not, and individually we fall short. We say all people reflect your image but our actions betray what we say. For those of us living with pain or grief caused by racism and colonialism, we ask you for healing and strength. For those of us living with privilege and wondering what to do, we ask for the strength to learn, to listen, and to work to end systems that oppress. As you came to set captives free, free us all from those ways of thinking, speaking and acting that belittle or harm any of your beloved creations and show us again how to live in your love. Let us work for reconciliation. Amen.[1]
CONFESSION & FORGIVENESS
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God, who forgives all our sin,
whose mercy endures forever.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin and come to God for healing.
Gracious God,
have mercy on us. We confess that we have honored you with our lips, but have harmed our neighbors with our tongues. The cravings at war within us cause conflicts and disputes. In our desire to be first we make distinctions among ourselves. We place the needs of the poor and the suffering last. In your great mercy, forgive us our sins. Draw near to us with grace in time of need, and turn us to follow in the way of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
God promises to forgive our iniquity and to remember our sin no more. By grace you have been saved. In the name of ☩ Jesus Christ, the source of eternal healing, your sins are forgiven.
Amen.
GATHERING SONG: Voices United 312 Praise With Joy
CENTERING PRAYER
Gracious God, we pray for your holy catholic church. Fill it with all truth and peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
CANADIAN LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF – HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE
Over the last year, millions of people were newly displaced as conflict raged, and the climate has continued changing. The exodus caused by conflict in Sudan put incredible strain on neighbouring countries such as South Sudan, Chad, and Central African Republic. Severe weather continues to plague Ethiopia and Somalia, putting countless lives at risk. Meanwhile, earthquakes in Syria and Türkiye and intense fighting in Gaza brought renewed hardship to vulnerable communities in the Middle East.
Your support has allowed our partners around the world to respond immediately to these growing crises. Through Lutheran World Federation and the ACT Alliance, CLWR has local partners in each of the affected communities who can ensure we’re first on the scene, then guide our response to make sure we’re responding with exactly what people need. With your partnership, families facing conflict and disaster are receiving shelter, food, clean water and supplies as well as medical care and support for coping with trauma.
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
As we turn to your word, Spirit of God, do not let our desire for information dominate our need for transformation. Let us hear the word and be moved to greater faith and obedience. Amen.
READINGS AND PSALM
First Reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
The renewed covenant will not be breakable, but like the old covenant it will expect the people to live upright lives. To know the Lord means that one will defend the cause of the poor and needy (Jer. 22:16). The renewed covenant is possible only because the Lord will forgive iniquity and not remember sin. Our hope lies in a God who forgets.
31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved,
and though the mountains shake in the depths of the sea;
3 though its waters rage and foam, and though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be shaken; God shall help it at the break of day.
6 The nations rage, and the kingdoms shake; God speaks, and the earth melts away.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
8 Come now, regard the works of the Lord, what desolations God has brought upon the earth;
9 behold the one who makes war to cease in all the world;
who breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire.
10 “Be still, then, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
Second Reading: Romans 3:19-28
Paul’s words stand at the heart of the preaching of Martin Luther and other Reformation leaders. No human beings make themselves right with God through works of the law. We are brought into a right relationship with God through the divine activity centered in Christ’s death. This act is a gift of grace that liberates us from sin and empowers our faith in Jesus Christ.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21 But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26 it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.
Gospel: John 8:31-36
Jesus speaks of truth and freedom as spiritual realities known through his word. He reveals the truth that sets people free from sin.
31 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”
HYMN: Voices United 331 The Church’s One Foundation
SERMON
There was a poster that hung in the student lounge of the seminary that summed up the whole process quite nicely. It was a stuffed doll stuck halfway through a wringer and the caption read, “The truth will set you free, but first it will make you miserable.” There was more truth in that poster than many cared to admit.
Reform is painful. One definition of reform is ‘to change from worse to better.’ But doesn’t it always seem that things get worse before they get better? Then again, think of how welcomed the ‘better’ is when it finally gets there. Reform is painful, be it on a governmental, church or personal level. For reformation implies self-examination and discovering that not all is well, and that something needs to change for wholeness, or ‘the better’ to occur.
Look at the scriptures. They relate countless stories of people faced with the truth of freedom in Christ Jesus, and who refuse it, because to reform was too painful, even if it meant giving up salvation. Then there were others, like Zaccheus, who accepted the truth of Jesus with a faith-filled heart, and whose re-formation became transformation. Zaccheus did more than go from bad to better, rather he became a whole different person. Fast forwarding through time, we meet Martin Luther. It is unfortunate that many people only know Martin from the moment of the nailing of the 95 theses to the day of his death, yet know nothing of the struggles Martin went through before posting his questions of debate. This was a man who literally whipped and beat himself until he bled, hoping that it would make him more acceptable to God, such was his perception of the Almighty. Here was a most reluctant reformer. Martin was a devout Roman Catholic. He loved his Church, its liturgy, its spirituality. But Martin discovered the truth, and it set him free to question church practices that oppressed, rather than freed, the people.
So, what is this truth? You know it, I am sure. But it never hurts to have it stated again, and again. The ‘truth’ of which Jesus speaks, and which affected Martin as radically and passionately as Zaccheus, is that there is absolutely nothing you can do, say, or be that will get you into heaven. You can’t even have faith on your own power. Rather, all this is a most gracious and generous gift from God. Forgiveness, acceptance, being made right with God all occurred through the One who died on the cross. The whole gift of forgiveness and new life was all God’s doing.
But you know this. I don’t have to tell you that which you already know. You know about the truth of which Jesus speaks. But what about the freedom?
Often when we speak of freedom we speak of being freed from something. For Jesus, when the Son of God sets us free we are freed to do something, freed to be somebody. To be free is to enjoy a status, the status of being a daughter or son of God; this has been defined further as being a disciple of Jesus and believing in Christ’s word. The distinction is not between being tied down and being free; being untied is not to be free but to be nothing at all. Rather the contrast is between being tied to sin and being tied to the source of life; the one is bondage, the other is freedom. As we stand in this freedom we are now able to serve others. To share our status as children of God, to embrace others with the love, forgiveness and acceptance of Christ.
So what has all this to do with Martin Luther and the reformation of the church of the 16th century, and what has all this got to do with us, over 500 years later? Good question. I want to make it clear that the freedom that is spoken of in the Gospel text is not to be connected with Martin Luther ‘freeing’ the people from the bondage of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, for this would be to apply a human definition to a spiritual reality. Martin Luther didn’t free anybody. What he did was point out where the church was causing people to believe in a false forgiveness, a false means of salvation. The people were no longer tied to Christ, they were nobodies. What Martin desired was a debate to discuss the realities of the freedom that Christ gives, and how it makes us heirs of the dominion of God. What Martin desired was reformation. What he got was more along the lines of transformation.
I wonder if it is possible to have reformation without transformation. I keep thinking about Zaccheus. Outwardly he was still the same man, still held the same, detested job, but he was very, very different. Oh, Zaccheus reformed, he promised to be an honest tax collector from then on, but he went beyond reform. He was going to give back much more than what he took from people. He had a zeal for life that had not existed in his soul before. He now wanted to serve others. He was compelled, after that meal with Jesus, to go beyond the limits of reform, to being transformed by the love of Christ.
Think about it. Outwardly the Church of Christ remained the same. Oh sure, the liturgy was reformed to suit the needs of the people, the language of the people was introduced and well as hymns so that the laity could participate, the same church buildings were being used, yet something was very, very different. There was a new focus, a new energy, a new dedication that had not existed before. No, Martin Luther was not responsible for all of it. All his did was remind the people of the promise of Christ, and the Holy Spirit did the rest.
You see, people, we are all free, yet many of us live and believe as though we were not. The focus on this Reformation Sunday is NOT re-formation. The focus is on TRANSFORMATION. This goes beyond ‘becoming good.’ This moves into the realm of ‘change’, ‘new life’. When we forget that we are free, we try to reform, thinking that this will make us more acceptable to God and others. The reality is that Christ has set us free and in this freedom all things are possible.
We are children of God! We have been set free! This is life-changing truth! Thanks be to God for this most wonderful gift! Amen.
HYMN OF THE MONTH: Voices United 307 Touch The Earth Lightly
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Challenged by God’s Word in Christ, let us pray for the church, the world, and the whole creation.
Lord of all, we give thanks for the whole church throughout the world. Open wide the paths toward unity between denominations so that all followers of Christ may join in shared worship and mission. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Renewing God, as the dying leaves display their beauty, we are reminded that nature’s cycle of life includes and requires both life and death. Instill in your people a mission of preservation and appreciation for trees, animals, and waterways threatened by climate collapse. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Gracious God, in the spirit of reformation we pray for all who cry out for relief from systemic oppression. May the hearts of those who occupy seats of power be reformed so that peace becomes the center of our life together. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Comforting God, be with all who are sick, suffering, or grieving in our own community and beyond. Surround them with the promise of your love, comfort, and grace that never ends. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Divine Guide, continue to challenge this community to be ever reforming in our ministries and outreach efforts. Inspire creative ideas among us so that the communal, grace-filled word of God remains at the heart of our ministry. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Almighty God, in Christ’s resurrection you ensure that though life be wrenched away, death cannot win the day. May the truth of your saving grace through faith sustain our hope for life in you. God of grace,
hear our prayer.
Into your hands, O God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in the saving grace you freely give, both now and forever.
Amen.
THE LORD’S PRAYER
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, forever and ever. Amen.
SENDING SONG: Voices United 262 A Mighty Fortress
May we leave this place understanding that this is the beginning. May we depart today knowing that the best of our faith is yet to come. And may the exhilarating mystery of God, the courage of the Great Reformer Jesus, and the dynamic nudging of the Spirit excite us as we become reformers for the Divine. Amen!
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[1] 2022-05-22-Healing-Reconciliation-Prayer-Resource.