14th Sunday After Pentecost, August 29, 2021
Holy Communion at 8:30 and 11am
Livestream at 8:25am
Bulletin for the service
Prayer of the Day
O God our strength, without you we are weak and wayward creatures. Protect us from all dangers that attack us from the outside, and cleanse us from all evil that arises from within ourselves, that we may be preserved through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Scripture
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9
Psalm 15
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Sermon
“From Inside to Outside”
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23; James 1:17-27
With disciples throughout time, we so often get caught up in the outward trapping of religion and ritual. With our hearts still marked by sin we often confuse appearance and performance with faithfulness. Jesus reminds us that it is not what is on the outside that defiles us but that which springs forth from within our wayward and wandering hearts. Yet, thanks be to God, it is not from within that we find our salvation or life. This same Jesus who shows up today has become the defiled and abandoned one. He goes down into death and then rises again conquering evil and death itself. In our baptism we are joined to that death and resurrection. There we receive the gifts of faith, forgiveness, and resurrection life that all come from outside of ourselves. Now, transformed in those waters the word and Spirit have been planted inside of us. What gushes forth from our new hearts are streams of love and justice flowing towards our neighbors.
Hymns
Now That the Daylight Fills the Sky, ACS #992
O God, My Faithful God, LBW 504
We Plow the Fields and Scatter, ELW 681
For the Beauty of the Earth, LBW 561
Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven, LBW 549
ACS, All Creation Sings
ELW, Evangelical Lutheran Worship
LBW, Lutheran Book of Worship
In our prayers we remember the Navajo Lutheran Mission.