Ninth Sunday After Pentecost, July 25, 2021

Holy Communion at 8:30 and 11am
Live-stream at 8:25am
Bulletin for the service

Prayer of the Day
Gracious God, you have placed within the hearts of all your children a longing for your word and a hunger for your truth. Grant that we may know your Son to be the true bread of heaven and share this bread with all the world, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Scripture
2 Kings 4:42-44
Psalm 145:10-18
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

Lectionary texts online

Sermon
“Picking Up the Pieces”
John 6:1-21
While the crowd was intrigued enough to keep following Jesus, they weren’t quite smart enough to think about lunch. So it is that they find themselves, thousands of them, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee without a bite to eat. Except for one boy, of course. But what are his five loaves and two fish among so many? The disciples are pragmatists; they know there’s nothing to be done. Jesus, however, refuses to be bound by this world’s possibilities. He breaks and blesses and creates abundance. So much so that the disciples are left to pick up the pieces, fragments to fill twelve baskets. Our mission is not to figure out what to do; it is to follow Jesus, picking up the pieces of grace he leaves in his wake, grace that feeds us and the whole world with this new Passover meal. We feast upon the gifts of the One who was broken for us, the One who pieces our lives back together.

Hymns
Open Now Thy Gates of Beauty, LBW 250
Jesus, Priceless Treasure, LBW 457
Praise and Thanksgiving, LBW 409
By Your Hand You Feed Your People, ELW 469
The Church of Christ, in Every Age, LBW 433

LBW     Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW Evangelical Lutheran Worship

In our prayers we remember Lawndale Christian Legal Center.