17th Sunday After Pentecost, September 19, 2021
Holy Communion at 8:30 and 11am
Livestream at 8:25am
Bulletin for the service
Prayer of the Day
O God, our teacher and guide, you draw us to yourself and welcome us as beloved children. Help us to lay aside all envy and selfish ambition, that we may walk in your ways of wisdom and understanding as servants of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Scripture
Jeremiah 11:18-20
Psalm 54
James 3:13–4:3, 7-8a
Mark 9:30-37
Sermon
“Welcomed Into Death and Resurrection”
James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a, Mark 9:30-37
Jesus reminds us for a second time where this is headed. He is on his way to Jerusalem where he will be betrayed into human hands and killed. Three days later he will rise again. The disciples cannot even hear let alone fathom such foolish talk of death and resurrection. This cannot possibly be how this ends. They prefer talk of glory, victory, and who will be the greatest when it is all said and done. This talk of death and resurrection does not sit well with us either at first. Our old Adam much prefers glory to the way of the cross. Yet, in our baptisms we have been welcomed as beloved children into this very life of dying and rising. We now joyfully die every day to the ways of this world and all its self-centered competition and rise again to a life that is peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, and full of mercy and good fruits. After all, this is the only way to really live.
Hymns
God Is Here! WOV 719
Children of the Heavenly Father, LBW 474
Be Thou My Vision, WOV 776
There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy, LBW 290
WOV, With One Voice
LBW, Lutheran Book of Worship
In our prayers we remember Valparaiso University.