The link to the recording on YouTube: Worship on YouTube --- 17 October 2021
The Twenty-First Sunday
after Pentecost
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information Hymn
#842 Oh, Worship the King |
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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 91:9-16 Because you
have made the Lord your refuge, the Most High your dwelling place, no evil
shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent. For he will
command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their
hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot
against a stone. You will
tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will
trample under foot. Those who
love me, I will deliver; I will protect those who know my name. When they
call to me, I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will rescue them and honor them. With long
life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation. |
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you. Let us pray. Sovereign God, you turn your
greatness into goodness for all the peoples on earth. Shape us into willing
servants of your kingdom, and make us desire always and only your will,
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen. |
Reading:
Isaiah 53:4-12
A reading from Isaiah
Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we
accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. 5But he was
wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment
that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed. 6All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has
laid on him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the
slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not
open his mouth. 8By a perversion of justice he was taken away. Who could
have imagined his future? For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people. 9They made his grave with the
wicked and his tomb with the rich, although he had done no violence, and there
was no deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain. When
you make his life an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, and shall
prolong his days; through him the will of the Lord shall
prosper. 11Out of his anguish he shall see light; he shall find
satisfaction through his knowledge. The righteous one, my servant, shall make
many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12Therefore I will
allot him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong; because he poured out himself to death, and was numbered with the
transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the
transgressors.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
Hebrews 5:1-10
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews
5Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things
pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for
sins. 2He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward,
since he himself is subject to weakness; 3and because of this
he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the
people. 4And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes
it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ
did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one
who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6as
he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the
order of Melchizedek.” 7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered
up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was
able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent
submission. 8Although he was a Son, he learned obedience
through what he suffered; 9and having been made perfect, he
became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
10having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of
Melchizedek.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia! The Son of Man
came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the
many. Alleluia!
Gospel Reading: Mark 10:35-45
A reading from the Gospel of Mark
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him,
“Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36And he said
to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37And they said to him,
“Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your
glory.” 38But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking.
Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism
that I am baptized with?” 39They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said
to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which
I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40but to sit at my right hand or at
my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been
prepared.”
41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and
John. 42So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the
Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their
great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but
whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and
whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son
of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for
many.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn #712 Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers
of the Church:
(From the Celebrate pamphlet)
Bless the congregation of Peace Christian Fellowship, Chatham, and their interim pastor, Pr. Paul Sodtke.
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Hymn #659 Will You Let Me Be Your
Servant
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
Almighty God, grant that your holy word which has been
proclaimed this day may enter into our hearts through your grace, that it may
produce in us the fruits of the Spirit for witness and service in the world and
in the praise and honor of your name, through Jesus Christ our Savior
and Lord. Amen.
Hymn #825 You Servants of God
Benediction and
Sending
The Lord bless you and keep us.
The Lord make his face shine on us and
be gracious to us.
The Lord look upon us with favor and +
give us peace.
Amen.
Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks
be to God!
but
whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever
wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
- James and John have a request but their request has strings
attached. They will drink from the same cup as Jesus and be baptized
with the same baptism. Their request - to sit one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory. –
is not something Jesus is able to give them. Of course, Jesus is speaking of
his passion and death and telling the sons of Zebedee that they will undergo
the same thing. History tells us that James, who led the Christian community of
Jerusalem, was martyred while John, whom we identify as the writer of the
Gospel, of three letters, and possibly the book of Revelation was exiled after
a time of persecution.
- Their question brings to light what has been a
constant struggle in the Christian Church – the struggle over authority after
Jesus left the scene. James and Peter seem to have authority and we know very
little about the other apostles’ work. Who will lead and how has often been a controversy.
- Church history is full of this sort of controversy.
Bishops and abbots, princes, kings, and electors all have had authority, for
better or for worse. And it appears that only a few led the church as Jesus
outlined leadership: but whoever
wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes
to be first among you must be slave of all.
- This is not an easy thing. All Christians, great or
small, are human and are subject to the faults and failures of human being as
much as they are subject to the virtues and triumphs of people.
- What is required is quite hard since it goes against
the grain of human nature. That requirement is “emptying”, a theological term
that points out the fact that Jesus emptied himself in becoming human and in
living a human life.
- Paul put it this way in the second chapter of his
letter to the Philippians:
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ
Jesus,
who, though he was in the form
of God,
did not regard equality
with God
as something to be
exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human
likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to the
point of death—
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly
exalted him
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and
under the earth,
and every
tongue should confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the
Father. (Phil 2:5-11)
- This is the model of all Christian authority,
emptying one’s self for the good of all. It’s even why we wear surgical mask
and sanitize our hands so often – for the good of others, even if it does mean
laying aside our “rights” for a time.
- This might be the measure of Christian leadership,
but it is also the outline of all the life of each and every Christian. It is,
as Paul said, the mind of Christ Jesus and what we are to emulate
but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
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