The Seventh Sunday after
Epiphany
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Prelude, Welcome, and Information
Hymn
#510 Word of God,
Come Down to Earth
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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 37:
1-11, 39-40
Do not fret
because of the wicked;
do not be
envious of wrongdoers,
for
they will soon fade like the grass,
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in
the Lord, and do good;
so you will
live in the land, and enjoy security.
Take
delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your
heart.
Commit your
way to the Lord;
trust in
him, and he will act.
He
will make your vindication shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause like the
noonday.
Be still
before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
do not fret
over those who prosper in their way,
over those
who carry out evil devices.
Refrain
from anger, and forsake wrath.
Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For the
wicked shall be cut off,
but those
who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
Yet
a little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look diligently for their
place,
they will not be there.
But the
meek shall inherit the land,
and delight
themselves in abundant prosperity.
The
salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
he is their refuge in the time of
trouble.
The Lord helps
them and rescues them;
he rescues
them from the wicked,
and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
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The Lord be with you. And
also with you.
Let us pray.
O Lord Jesus, make us instruments
of your peace, that where there is hatred, we may sow love, where there is
injury, pardon, and where there is despair, hope. Grant, O divine master,
that we may seek to console, to understand, and to love in your name, for you
live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
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Reading:
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
A reading from the book of Genesis
Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But
his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his
presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they
came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into
Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you
sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine
has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which
there will be neither plowing nor harvest. God sent me before you to
preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many
survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a
father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of
Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son
Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not
delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me,
you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks,
your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since
there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and
all that you have, will not come to poverty.’ And he kissed all his
brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
The Word of the Lord
Reading:
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
A reading from the first letter to the Corinthians
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do
they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it
dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but
a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a
body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.
So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable,
what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in
glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical
body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also
a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a
living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not
the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The
first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from
heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as
is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne
the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of
heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the
imperishable.
The Word of the Lord.
Gospel
Verse:
Alleluia. Love your enemies,
and you will be children of the Most High; forgive and you will be forgiven.
Alleluia! (Lk. 6: 35, 37)
Gospel Reading: Luke 6:27-38
A reading from the Gospel of Luke
“But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who
hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If
anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who
takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who
begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them
again. Do to others as you would have them do to you. “If you love
those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who
love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that
to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you
hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to
receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting
nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the
Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful,
just as your Father is merciful.
“Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will
not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be
given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will
be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get
back.”
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise
to you, O Christ.
Sermon
(added at the end of the document)
Hymn
#707 Lord of
Glory, You Have Bought Us
Thanks and Offertory
Prayers of the Church:
Jesus has given us the example to follow in our lives.
As disciples, we offer our prayers for the world, the church, and for all
people according to their needs.
[Short
pause]
Merciful
God, Help us to follow the example of your Son, Jesus, and lift us up when we
fall. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Merciful
God, bless our families, loved ones and friends with safety and health. Bless
them with your grace and mercy. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Merciful
God, in your presence we trust. Bless us peace of mind and spirit. Strengthen
us to be true daily disciples. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Merciful
God, we are called to be merciful as you are merciful. Grant us this grace and
help us when we are perplexed by other’s actions. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Merciful
God, grant peace to Ukraine, Ottawa, Afghanistan, and all the troubled spots in
our world. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Merciful
God, help us as the pandemic winds down. Let that disease leave us in
peace and health. Up-build nurses, medical technicians, ambulance crews, fire
fighters, and peace officers. Lord, in your mercy, Hear
our prayer.
Merciful
God, look with favor on all who minister in the name of your Son. Bless our
neighbours of Redeemer, London, and their pastor, Pastor Katherine Gohm, in
your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Merciful
God, we trust in your grace and mercy. Hear the prayers we keep in our hearts…
* … Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer.
Into your
hands we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your mercy and grace; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
{*Erma Reska (RIP), Rose Gotzmeister, Gail
Mauer, Bill Ungar, Deb Kirschner}
Hymn#781 Children of the Heavenly Father
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
Lord, make me
an instrument of Your peace;
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine
Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved, as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
And it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
Hymn
#783 Praise and
Thanks and Adoration
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.
Walk humbly with God. Thanks be to
God.
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Services for the next few months will be on YouTube and accessible from
an email link or our church Facebook page, except for the following:
Feb 27 Church,
11:00am
March 13 Saxonia Hall, 11:00am
– service will be followed
by the Annual General
Meeting
March 27 Church, 11:00am
April 10 Saxonia Hall (Palm
Sunday), 11:00am
April 15 Church (Good
Friday), 11:00am
April 17 Church (Easter
Sunday), 11:00am
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Your
reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind
to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
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Being called
“Children of the Most High” has a nice ring to it. I would think that this is
something we’d all like to be called. In this passage, Jesus appears to link
the title to certain behaviors of the disciples. It seems that God’s mercy is
to be the measure of God’s people’s behavior.
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That’s quite
a standard to live up to. We’ll all like to Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. We’d want
to be instruments of (God’s)
peace as the opening collect says.
·
As always, the question is this: do we do this
to please God and gain salvation and blessing? Or do we do this because we are
free to do so by God’s grace?
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We all know the Lutheran answer: everything is
based on God’s grace. The ways of living Jesus talks about are the ways we who
are in a covenant relationship with him are to act.
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It is also hard. To give without expecting
return… to turn the other cheek… to refrain from judgement and from
condemnation… to forgive freely… all of these are hard and all of these are
part and parcel of the Christian life. And we fail
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… and we are forgiven. And we try again every
day.
·
This service’s opening collect (a church-y
word for the prayers spoken by the pastor that ‘collects’ everyone’s prayer
into one) is based on the so-called “Peace prayer of St. Francis of Assisi.”
Francis never wrote it but it does capture some of the spirit of our poor
Lesser Brother. We’ll be hearing that as our closing collect for today as well.
·
Maybe that’s what we’d like to be. Something
to be remembered is this: Jesus’ words in the Gospel today speak of a life
transformed by the disciple’s relationship with him. He speaks of a person’s
identity shaped by that relationship for the life of discipleship. Jesus goes
on A
good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into
your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.
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Such reward
and such discipleship are based on grace and built on grace. Neither are
available to us without the grace of God first and foremost. With that grace
and favour, who knows what is possible?
·
I have use
someone else’s words now. The Christian writer, C.S. Lewis said it better that I think I could in his book, Mere
Christianity.
o “To have Faith in Christ means, of course, trying to do all that He says.
There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take
his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow
that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way.
Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save
you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but
inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of
Heaven is already inside you.”
·
A first faith gleam of Heaven is already inside you. What a wonderful way of describing the life of
Grace!
Your
reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind
to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
