The Twentieth Sunday after
Pentecost
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#556 Morning Has Broken |
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The grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all. And also with
you. Psalm: Psalm 84:
1-7 How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord of hosts! My soul
longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living
God. Even the
sparrow finds a home, and the
swallow a nest for herself, where she
may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King
and my God. Happy are
those who live in your house, ever singing your praise. (Selah) Happy are
those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion. As they go
through the valley of Baca they make
it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. They go
from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. Holy God, our
righteous judge, daily your mercy surprises us with everlasting forgiveness.
Strengthen our hope in you, and that all people of the earth may fine their
glory in you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. |
Reading:
Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
A reading from the book of the prophet, Jeremiah
Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your
name’s sake; our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against
you. O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be
like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the
night? Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who
cannot give help? Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are
called by your name; do not forsake us!
Thus says the Lord concerning this people: Truly they have
loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet; therefore
the Lord does not accept them, now he will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins. Have you completely rejected Judah? Does your heart
loathe Zion? Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us? We
look for peace, but find no good; for a time of healing, but there is terror
instead. We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord, the iniquity of our
ancestors, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your
name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break
your covenant with us. Can any idols of the nations bring rain? Or can the
heavens give showers? Is it not you, O Lord our God? We set our hope
on you, for it is you who do all this.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18
A reading from the second letter to Timothy
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of
my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on
that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May
it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me
strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the
Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord
will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To
him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia! All who exalt
themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Alleluia! (Luke 18:14)
Gospel Reading: Luke 18:9-14
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
(Jesus) also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to
the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The
Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am
not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But
the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was
beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell
you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all
who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be
exalted.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise
to you, O Christ.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn
#600 Out of the
Depths…
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers of the Church:
Gracious God, it is in you that we put all our
hope. Hear our prayers for the world, the church, and for all people according
to their needs.
[Short
pause]
God in our
midst, help us to know ourselves as you know us and to realize that you love
us. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
God in our
midst, we pray for all who suffer for the sake of your Son and who suffer
because they are faithful. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
God in our
midst, be with all who suffer from storms and continue to bless all engaged in
recovery and rebuilding. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
God in our
midst, open the minds and hearts of all involved in negotiations over our
school system. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
God in our
midst, hear the cries of all who want peace in Ukraine and Russia as well as all
who suffer the terrors and dangers of war anywhere. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
God in our
midst, grant healing and health to all who still struggle with the COVID-19 virus. Strengthen
as well all who work for healing in any way. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
God in our midst, we long to hear the Good News, Look with favor on all who minister in the name of your Son. Bless our bishop, Bishop Michael Pryse, his staff, and the support staff at the Eastern Synod office. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
God in our midst, we ask you to hear our unspoken prayers for so many we are concerned
about, both near and far… * … Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer. {*Gail Mauer, Deb Kirschner, Diane Corns, Rose
Gotzmeister}
Great God who
is always with us, hear all our prayers this day and every day. With trust in your
mercy and love, we commend to
you all for whom we pray, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hymn #208 Praise to You, O God of Mercy
The
Lord’s Prayer
Finally let
us pray for all things as our Lord would have us ask:
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.
Closing prayer & Benediction
Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits and blessings which
you have given us. For all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.
Merciful
friend, brother, and redeemer, may we know you more clearly, love you more dearly,
and follow you more nearly, day by day. Amen.
Hymn
#815 I Want to
Walk as a Child of the Light
Benediction & Sending
May the Lord
bless us and keep us.
May the
Lord’s face shine upon us with grace and mercy.
May the Lord
look upon us with favor and X give us peace.
Amen.
Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks
be to God.
W
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Services
for the next few months will be in person or on YouTube and accessible from
an email link or our church Facebook page. Services for October and November are
shown below: October 30
Communion, Church, 11:00am (Reformation Sunday) November 6
Service on YouTube, 11:00am November 13
Communion, Saxonia Hall,11:00am
(All Saints/service of remembrance) November 20
Service on YouTube, 11:00am (Christ the King) November 27
Communion, Church, 11:00am (First Sunday in Advent) |
(Jesus) also told this parable to some
who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with
contempt
·
As we begin
this, I’d like to make a few things clear. The Pharisee in the parable is an
example and not an indictment of all Jewish people. This something worth
remembering. There’s been more than enough anti-Semitism in our history and,
for that matter, our church to shame anyone.
·
Also the two
men went up to the temple to pray,
“up” since Jerusalem and the temple are the highest points in the religious
understanding of the Jewish people.
·
So what is
the Pharisee an example of? This particular character is an example of
self-righteousness. His prayer is filled with comparisons to other people and declarations
of the great things he’s done… as if God did not know that already.
·
The tax
collector was a despised agent of the Roman occupation. Such tax collectors
could be corrupt and grasping. Yet here he prays for mercy as it appears he has
a conscience.
·
The point
here is noting where the two men’s trust lies. The tax collector appears to
trust in God while our Pharisee example trusts in himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like
other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax
collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’
There is nothing wrong with his fasting and alms; those would be things to be
encouraged. The self-righteousness, on the other hand, is a failing.
·
The cure for
self-righteousness is not always easy to see. Calling someone out for that
often makes people dig the trenches deeper. The real remedy is based on where
we put our trust. Our trust needs to be placed in God rather than ourselves.
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Luther’s reform
pointed away from self-trust and self-satisfaction, centering on God and God’s
grace in Christ. Sad to say though, Christians continue to fall into the pit of
self-righteousness and self-satisfaction. (“Look at me! How good I am!”) If we
are truly saved by grace, then there’s lots to be happy about, but nothing to
be self-righteous about.
·
Nadia Bolz-Weber,
the tattooed Lutheran pastor in the US, recently wrote of her disengagement
with her fundamentalist upbringing: …maybe the
opposite of religious fundamentalism isn’t strident atheism or liberalism.
Maybe the opposite of fundamentalism is . . . humility.
·
In the
history of the early church, we have Anthony the Great, one of the first desert
monks in Egypt, who died around the year 356AD. His biographer, Athanasius of
Alexandria, records Anthony as saying this about his spiritual life: I saw the snares that the enemy spread out over the
world and I said groaning, "What can get through from such snares?"
Then I heard a voice saying to me, "Humility.”
·
Francis of
Assisi said “What we are before God is
all we are and nothing more.”
·
There is sadness
in a sort of false humility in which a person might feel that they are beyond
redemption and beyond the mercy of God. Again the focus is on the self and not
God.
·
True humility
is realizing just who we really are. It is not a self-hate or a constant
degrading of the self. It is a realization of all we are, good and bad. It is
also a realization of our need for God and our dependence on God. Proverbs 9:10
tells us The fear of the LORD is
the beginning of wisdom… “Fear of the Lord” goes beyond being
scared and includes respect and awe, a word in our language that is often
misused and cheapened. A sandwich might be great, but they’re rarely “awesome”
while standing on the ocean’s shore or looking at the night sky can be
experiences of awe.
·
Such
experiences of humility, fear of the Lord, and self-knowledge can be part of
the experience of justification. The tax collector was humble enough to know he
needed God’s mercy and he turned his attention to God. It is there that the
gift of true humility lies.
I tell you, this man went down to his
home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be
humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”
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