18th Sunday After Pentecost, September 26, 2021
Holy Communion at 8:30 and 11am
Livestream at 8:25am
Bulletin for the service
Prayer of the Day
Generous God, your Son gave his life that we might come to peace with you. Give us a share of your Spirit, and in all we do empower us to bear the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Scripture
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Psalm 19:7-14
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-50
Sermon
“Are We There Yet?”
Mark 9:38-50; Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
Anyone who has ever spent more than five minutes in a car with a child knows the incessant refrain. Are we there yet? The question comes early in the journey, and quickly shifts from being a matter of curiosity to complaint: Why aren’t we there yet? No sooner have the Israelites left Mount Sinai than the complaining begins. Remember the good old days of slavery, when we had all the cucumbers and melons we wanted? Maybe we should go back! Their incessant complaining is not unlike ours, we who would have things are own way and for whom nothing is ever quite good enough. Jesus shows us where our misplaced focus is leading us. Straight to hell, or at least to the ever-burning sacrificial pits of Gehenna outside the city walls. Self-centered complaint gets us nowhere good. Christ, however, is willing to enter i to the suffering we create and experience. He is the One who is cut off that we would be restored. Restored, our journey is reframed. We are already where we need to be. We are in Christ. Our task now is not to worry about ourselves, but to help others, especially the littlest among us, know the saving love and grace of Jesus Christ.
Hymns
How Small Our Span of Life, ELW 636
Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service, LBW 423
Strengthen for Service, Lord, ELW 497
You Satisfy the Hungry Heart, WOV 711
Oh, Sing to the Lord, WOV 795
ELW, Evangelical Lutheran Worship
WOV, With One Voice
LBW, Lutheran Book of Worship
In our prayers we remember The Night MInistry.