The Third Sunday after
Pentecost
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#516 Almighty God, Your Word
Is Cast |
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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 92 1It is good to give thanks to
the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; 2to declare your steadfast love
in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, 3to the music of the lute and the
harp, to the melody of the lyre. 4For you, O Lord, have made
me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. 12The righteous flourish like the
palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13They are planted in the house of
the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. 14In old age they still produce
fruit; they are always green and full of sap, 15showing that
the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no
unrighteousness in him. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. O God, you are the tree of life,
offering shelter to all the world. Graft us into yourself and nourish our
growth, that we may bear your truth and love to those in need, through Jesus
Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. |
Reading:
Ezekiel 17:22-24
A reading from the book of the Prophet Ezekiel
22Thus says the Lord God: I myself will take a sprig from the lofty
top of a cedar; I will set it out. I will break off a tender one from the
topmost of its young twigs; I myself will plant it on a high and lofty
mountain. 23On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it,
in order that it may produce boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar.
Under it every kind of bird will live; in the shade of its branches will nest
winged creatures of every kind. 24All the trees of the field
shall know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, I make high the
low tree; I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. I
the Lord have spoken; I will accomplish it.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
2 Corinthians 5:6-10 [11-13] 14-17
A reading from the second letter to the Corinthians
6So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at
home in the body we are away from the Lord— 7for we walk by
faith, not by sight. 8Yes, we do have confidence, and we would
rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9So
whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 10For
all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may
receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or
evil.[ 11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we try to
persuade others; but we ourselves are well known to God, and I hope that we are
also well known to your consciences.
12We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you an
opportunity to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who
boast in outward appearance and not in the heart. 13For if we
are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for
you.] 14For the love of Christ urges us on, because we are
convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died. 15And
he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves,
but for him who died and was raised for them.
16From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view;
even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no
longer in that way. 17So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new
creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia! Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord of Hosts; God’s glory fills the whole earth. Alleluia!
Gospel Reading: Mark 4:26-34
A reading from the Gospel of Mark
26He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on
the ground, 27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28The earth
produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the
head. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his
sickle, because the harvest has come.”
30He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what
parable will we use for it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which,
when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts
forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade.”
33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to
hear it; 34he did not speak to them except in parables, but he
explained everything in private to his disciples.
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn #635 We Walk by Faith
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers
of the Church:
Trusting Jesus’
promise that we will be heard, we offer our prayers.
[Short pause]
n
Gracious God, Jesus used irritants as signs of your
reign in this world. Give us the
understanding we need to learn from our irritation, that we may be open to your
surprising realm. God of heaven and
earth,
Strengthen
us in your grace.
n
Gracious God, the coming of your rule among us can
sometimes feel like the spreading of weeds.
Keep us humbly open to whatever you are doing among us, that we may
grasp the mystery of your presence, and your promise. God of heaven and earth,
Strengthen
us in your grace.
n
Gracious God, sometimes we need irritants in our
lives, so that the truth of our situation may become clearer. Keep us aware of your movement in our lives,
and direct us toward health. God of
heaven and earth,
Strengthen
us in your grace.
n
Gracious God, sometimes your church needs to be an
irritant, in order that injustice and disease may be identified. We are especially aware of the damage racism
is causing in this country, and in our lives.
Strengthen us in our calling to follow Jesus, that our priorities may
more closely align with yours. God of heaven
and earth,
Strengthen
us in your grace.
n
Gracious God, your desire for creation is health
and wholeness — for individuals, for communities, for peoples, for the entire
planet. May we be agents of your healing
love in our homes, our neighbourhoods, our nation, and for the entire world. God of heaven and earth,
Strengthen us in your grace.
n
Gracious God, weeds and pollen remind us that you
come in the unexpected, in the inconvenient, in the disruptive. Plant this awareness in us, that we may
celebrate your realm arriving among us, even if it makes us itch. God of heaven and earth,
Strengthen
us in your grace.
n
Gracious God,
bless the congregation of St. Ansgar Church, London, and their pastor, Pr. David
Wirt. God of heaven and earth,
Strengthen us in your grace.
We
ask all this in the name of Jesus, our living and loving Saviour.
Amen.
Hymn #679 For the Fruit of All
Creation
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.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your
word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which
you have prepared
in
the sight of every people:
A light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
Hymn
#551 The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve
Benediction and Sending
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make his face shine on you and
be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and +
give you peace.
Amen.
Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks
be to God!
§ With all that’s gone on in the past two weeks, it’s
very hard to preach an up-beat, happy sermon. There are days when that just
can’t be done.
§ The news regarding the pandemic is encouraging for
our own country, but there are places that remain in a horrible condition. The
news regarding the discovery of 215 bodies at the residential school in British
Columbia has rocked the nation and led to calls for real action for the First
Nations. The news regarding the payment of fines levied against a certain
organization near us may have upset us, especially since the authorities in our
area were referred to as “the enemy.” Then the news of the horrendous murders
in London tore at all our hearts. To hear of such a thing in our backyards can
only make us wonder just what led to that shocking action and how much of that
might be found if we scratched below the surface.
§ All of these reports show us how much work remains
for people of good will throughout the world. The task seems enormous and I
think we all agree that is the truth. What can simple people do in the face of
such illnesses of the body and of the heart?
§ Paul reminds us in his second letter to the
Christians at the city of Corinth that we
walk by faith, not by sight. He said this in response to something
other than the things we face, but his words apply here. We must carry on with
what we know is our task and our message, even in the shadow of such illness,
stubbornness, and hatred. The illness is not necessarily ours to bear but we
are afflicted as others are. The stubbornness might not be our own, yet we know
the effects of it. The hatred might not be directed against us but others know
its effects… as many of us have known the effects of hate in our own lives.
§ We say we are too small, too powerless, too old or
too young to shoulder this burden or to shoulder it again in some cases.
We might not be sure that what we might do in the face of these trial will be
of any use. What do we have to offer?
§ We walk by faith, not
by sight. We give from
what we’ve received from God through our faith. We have been promised that we will
be delivered from evil. The Kingdom will come and is, in fact, all
around us, growing without our knowledge… The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the
ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout
and grow, he does not know how. We have been promised that the
kingdom will surprise us, like the shrub that grows from the mustard seed which
when it is sown it grows up and
becomes the greatest of all shrubs.
§ Some pastors I know have – in the style of a parable
– compared the Kingdom of God with the dandelion, that so-called weed that is
all over our lawns. They seem to appear and even when cut down, spring back up
almost over-night. What are they good for? Well, the bees love them and use
them and we need the bees who are in trouble. And if you know how to use the
dandelion, it makes a pretty good salad as well as a coffee substitute (and a
wine… so I’m told.)
§ So the small and seemingly insignificant things
might make a big difference in the world we live in. We could all think of
examples of this from our own lives or the lives of our families. There’s an
old saying that backs all this up: Mighty
oaks from tiny acorns grow.
§ Since we
walk by faith, not by sight and we trust that the Kingdom of God would sprout and grow without
our understanding or knowledge, we endure through all the sad and terrible news
that has come to us so recently. Faith and trust will light our way, one step
at a time and each step brings us closer to the fulfilment of what God wishes
for each of us, even if it seems too small and
beyond our sight and our grasp now.
With
what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for
it? It is like a mustard seed…
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