Worship
via Blog 8th Sunday after Pentecost
July 26, 2020
~~~~~~~~~~
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome to Pioneer’s blog worship service.
Though we are accessing this remotely and unable to look each other in the eye,
we are still the Pioneer faith community, gathered as children of God to
worship, to be spiritually fed, and to be equipped to go out to serve in
Christ’s name—though we do it differently during this
Pioneer offers worship in several modes:
a)
The
blog.
b)
The
blog service mailed through US Postal service.
c)
Sermons
only, mailed to those who so request.
d)
Zoom
services at 10:00 Sunday mornings.
e)
Facebook
posting of recorded Zoom services at https://www.facebook.com/Pioneer-Presbyterian-Church-113547145346520.
f)
We
can now allow up to 40 people in worship. A six-foot distancing will be
maintained. Masks are mandated. There can be congregational singing with masks,
but no passing the peace, hugs, handshakes, or coffee hour. Registration is on
a first come-first served basis. We are consistently running an attendance
count lower than we could have. Call or
email Jon if you want to be on the list.
A congregational meeting is scheduled for
August 9th following worship to elect a new elder to complete Vicki
Keeney’s term and a new Nominating Committee member. We need 20 members to
constitute a quorum between those in live worship and those on Zoom.
Now allow yourself a brief time of silence
as you open your hearts and feel God’s presence with you, right where you are.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BAPTISM: Friends, remember your baptism … and be thankful.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Let the hearts of those who seek God
rejoice!
Let them seek God and the strength God
provides.
Surely
the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
The
Spirit searches our hearts and enlarges our prayers.
Who can separate us from the love of God?
Will hardship, distress, or peril overcome
us?
Nothing
can separate us from God’s love.
We
can face all things, knowing God’s care.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
We give you thanks, Holy God, for promises
kept and blessings bestowed. Your saving acts introduce us to the realm of
heaven we only dimly perceive. Your Spirit reaches out to us with strength and
power beyond our understanding. Your glory surrounds us in love too deep for
words. Your wonders embrace us on every hand. In these moments we would
remember who you are and remind ourselves that we are nothing apart from you.
Teach us now how to live as you intend. Amen.
OPENING
SONG: “How Can I Keep from Singing?”
CALL
TO CONFESSION
If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But when we confess our sins, God who is
faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Merciful
God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by
what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with
our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as
ourselves. In your mercy, forgive what we have been, help us amend what we are,
and direct what we shall be, that we may delight in your will and walk in your
ways to the glory of your holy name. (Let
us continue our prayers in silence ………….) Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON
Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation.
The old life has gone; the new life has
begun.
Friends, believe the Good News!
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven and
restored to new life!
PASSING THE PEACE
May the peace of Christ be with you.
And also with you.
Let us extend the peace of Christ in heart
and prayer to one another.
GLORY
BE TO THE FATHER
TIME
WITH CHILDREN
Good
morning Fiona and Zoey. Are you keeping busy this summer? I hope you’re finding
lots of fun things to do. You’ve had lost of coloring to do. The coloring
sheets I sent you this time were on planting and growing again. I sent you some
seed, too. And there were also sheets on baking bread along with some yeast.
Did
that seem like funny things to send you? Well, let’s talk about those. Jesus
told stories about yeast and mustard seeds. The little round seeds I sent you
are mustard seeds. They’re pretty small aren’t they? So is the yeast. But Jesus
says they can do big things. When yeast is put in flour to make bread, it makes
the whole loaf rise so it’s a lot bigger than it was. And he said that the
mustard seed is a tiny seed that would not seem to matter much, but when it
sprouts and grows it makes a really big plant that birds can sit in.
Jesus
wanted to talk to us about faith. Sometimes we think we can’t do much but Jesus
says that even if you have a little tiny bit of faith, it can make a
difference. Maybe that’s because if we think we can do something then we’ll try
harder.
For
example, if we don’t think our prayers will make any difference, then we won’t
pray as much. But if we believe even a tiny bit that God will hear and answer
our prayers, then we’ll pray more and more. Our faith is like yeast, too. When
we tells others about Jesus, it’s like putting yeast in bread. It grows bigger
and others will know about Jesus, too. And then they’ll tell others and the
number of Jesus’ followers will increase. Let’s pray:
Dear
Jesus. It’s kind of hard to understand how faith works. Sometimes our faith is
big and sometimes it’s little tiny. Help us to keep believing and praying and
to share that with others so they can believe in pray, too. Amen.
HYMN: “Jesus
Loves Me”
Jesus loves me,
this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Little ones to him
belong, they are weak but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves
me. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves
me. The Bible tells me so.
SCRIPTURE
1: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Another parable he
put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard
seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds,
but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that
the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." He told them
another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took
and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a
field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all
that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a
merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value,
went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is
like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when
it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels
but threw away the bad. So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will
come out and separate the evil from the righteous, and throw them into the
furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. "Have you
understood all this?" They said to him, "Yes." And he said to
them, "Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of
heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and
what is old."
SCRIPTURE
2: Romans 8:26-39
Likewise the Spirit
helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the
Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who
searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the
Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. We know that in
everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according
to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many
brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he
called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. What
then shall we say to this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not
spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all
things with him? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who
justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised
from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
"For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as
sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come,
nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be
able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
SERMON:
“Absolutely Nothing” Rev. Jean Hurst
What stands in your way? What limits you?
What keeps you from doing or being what you want? What whispers in your heart
telling you it’s not possible? Some of us were taught from an early age that we
shouldn’t dream, that we couldn’t accomplish, that we weren’t good enough or
smart enough or ambitious enough. We were discouraged from believing we could
make a difference and told we didn’t have the resources or the connections or
the power.
Others of us learned those beliefs
from the crucible of life. We tried and we failed. We compared ourselves to
someone else and found we didn’t measure up. We tried to act on our dreams and
someone pulled the rug out from under us. We loved and that love was betrayed
so we concluded we were not worthy of love or that we would never trust loving
again. We started down a path and found our way blocked or faced too many
obstacles or ran out of energy or got diverted so we decided it wasn’t possible
and we gave up.
Or perhaps our life was going in the
direction we wanted and then tragedy struck. It might have been a death or a
broken relationship or a financial crisis. We may have experienced something
that labeled us or made a really bad decision, done something for which we
couldn’t forgive ourselves, and we felt all was lost and there was no
redemption.
It is way too easy for us to get
blocked in our lives, to lose confidence in ourselves, to have hopes smashed
and our dreams become rubble around our feet. For a whole variety of reasons,
we blame ourselves, labeling ourselves as no good. We lose hope.
I want to share three stories. The
first is about elephants. While it’s still a baby, an elephant is trained and
controlled by putting a chain around its leg and fastening the other end of the
chain to a large log. The little elephant quickly learns that it is held
captive by the metal and wood. No matter how much it pulls and tugs and
strains, the chain and the log are stronger. It is not big enough or strong
enough to drag that log anywhere. It is anchored. It learns how futile it is to
fight and accepts its bondage. When the trainer wants to control this now
multi-ton adult elephant all he has to do is put the chain around the
elephant’s leg and fasten the other end to any little stick or twig. The
elephant remembers--and believes that it is still held captive by metal and
wood, just as it was as a baby. The elephant is held captive--not by anything
real but by its own memories! It becomes a prisoner of its own mind.
Too often, that elephant is us. We are held by old beliefs, beliefs that no
longer apply or beliefs that were off base to begin with. As much as anything,
we are held by our own sense of unworthiness.
The next story is about fish. Walleyed
pike were placed in a tank of water and fed all the minnows they could hold.
One day a thick glass was placed between the pike and the minnows. The pike
banged up against the glass time and again, going after the minnows. Eventually
they quit trying. When the researchers removed the glass, the pike made no
further attempt to eat the minnows. The pike all starved to death, their
favorite dinner swimming circles around them. The pike had learned
hopelessness.1 What makes us stop trying? How many times of failing
teach us hopelessness?
The third story is about pumpkins. In
this example, the author of Hope Notes
tells of a time as a teen when he and a friend were picking up cans and bottles
along a dusty Tennessee road to turn in
for their deposits. He said they didn’t make much money that day, but he did
learn a life lesson he never forgot. He came on a pint-sized pickle jar
alongside a pumpkin field. The jar was filled with pumpkin. The other pumpkins
in the field were beautiful and as big as basketballs or larger. A pumpkin vine
had by chance bloomed at the mouth of the pickle jar. The little pumpkin grew
into the jar and filled it. Having conformed to the shape and size of the
little jar, out of space to expand, the pumpkin stopped growing.2
What limits our ability to grow? How have we conformed to the circumstances of
our lives, believing it can never be any different? What have we let shape our
lives and keep us from growing into who and what we are called to be?
How long will we be content to live
within the limitations of our own beliefs about ourselves? How long will we be
satisfied to let our adult lives be governed by the untrue things or irrelevant
things we were taught as a child? How long will we allow other people to define
us? How long will we choose to be chained to our past mistakes and hurts rather
than exploring new ways of being? Do we long for something more? Today’s
scriptures offer us hope for a different, fuller, more joyful way of living out
our lives.
I want to point you to two of the
parables in particular. A man finds a treasure in a field and he buries it, or
safeguards it until he can go and buy the field and claim the treasure. Another
man is a pearl merchant who finds a pearl of great value so he sells the rest
of his wares and buys this priceless pearl. Our traditional understanding of
the parable is that the believer is the one who finds the treasure or the
pearl, which is Jesus and who is worth giving up everything else for. The
other day, in my reading, I came across a different way to consider these
parables.
You
are the pearl of great price. You are
the treasure. God is the seeker and finder who gives up everything—his only
begotten son—in order to claim you as his own. And the kingdom of heaven is
like … you meaning so much to God, you being so valuable, you being worth the
sacrifice, you being that loved. That analogy is consistent with other parables
where God is the woman who puts the leaven in the bread, God is the shepherd
who seeks the lost sheep, God is the woman who loses a coin and seeks until she
finds, God is the father who watches for and welcomes back the prodigal son.
God’s love is that great. Understanding that, we look at Paul’s letter to the
church in Rome in today’s passage.
It begins with prayer and a lot of
help from the Holy Spirit. As we struggle with all of what we face—a lifetime
of negative perceptions, the struggles of life today--we often are not even
able to put it into words of prayer. But the Holy Spirit comes to our aid,
reading our hearts, interceding for us, interpreting all those feelings and
longings with sighs too deep for words. Even what we are unable to recognize
and express, the Spirit knows and then acts on our behalf.
God searches our hearts. Not for our
failings, our mean-spirited or unworthy thoughts or intents. Instead God
searches tenderly for what might be troubling us, for our unhealed wounds, for
what frightens or dismays us. This is a tender, loving search, an intimate
connection with God’s beloved child. This is a searching of our hearts to know
what we need, how we should be directed, for where we need healing or peace.
This is what we get from the God who seeks relationship with us.
This is the God who intends good for
us. God works for good in us, in the circumstances of our lives. It says those
he foreknew he predestined to conform to the image of Jesus. And God foreknew
all of us! All along God has had the intent that we be saved and reconciled to
him. All along God has called us to our better selves, not just a select few
but all of us, all of humanity.
And even when life go sideways, when
tragedy strikes, when events become painful, when relationships hurt, when we
make wrong decisions, when we are hurt or hurtful, God has an amazing ability
to work for good in the midst of it, to take those very things and to draw good
from them in a way that creates healing and redemption and transformation and
hope.
God is for us. And when God is for us
nothing and no one can ever override that. If God is for us, how can anyone or
anything have a chance of overcoming the power and faithfulness and love of
God? Other things—whether people or ideologies or wealth or power or whatever--
that claim to see us through life’s challenges are revealed as false promises.
Who can accuse us before God or condemn us? We have Jesus as our defender and
advocate, sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for us. The one who
will judge us is the very one who died for us.
Paul continues: who can separate us
from the love of Jesus? He goes on to list what were real concerns for that
early church: tribulations, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril,
and sword. We may not have those same issues, but this contemporary world
certainly has its own daunting list. Hardship and disease and violence and
economic woes and a country divided in so many ways starts the list. Others are
probably flashing through your mind even as I speak. Some of them are relative
to the world, some to our country, and some are very close to home. Paul
assures us that whatever it is, we will overcome with the help of Jesus. Those
things will not get the better of us.
And then the chapter concludes with a
most powerful statement. Nothing in all of creation—nothing in our pasts,
nothing now, nothing in our future, nothing in life or in death, nothing by the
world’s powers or by spiritual beings can ever keep God from loving us.
So think again about what stands in
your way, what limits you, what shaped your life, the mistakes you’ve made,
what you thought defined you, the obstacles, the rejections, the failings, the
losses, the pain, all the negative thoughts you’ve had about yourself, about
not being good enough. None of that can stand up against God’s love for you.
You are the pearl of great price. God tenderly searches your heart to know what
you need. God will continue to work good in your life.
Friends, remember this passage. It has
power and it has promise. Whenever you get discouraged, turn to it and read it
again. Remind yourself that the Spirit is interceding on your behalf right now. Know that God is working good
in your life right now. Know that there
is nothing in the world that can win against God. Believe that you are the
pearl of great price, the treasure worth protecting, bought with the blood of
Jesus. And hold to the truth that there is nothing in all of creation, nothing
you’ve ever done, nothing you have failed to do, nothing you ever might do that
can separate you from the love of God. There is nothing that will make God stop loving you. Absolutely nothing!!
1R. Wayne Willis, Hope
Notes: 52 Meditations to Nudge Your World, Westminster John Knox Press,
Louisville, 2004, p. 66
2R. Wayne Willis, Hope
Notes: 52 Meditations to Nudge Your World, Westminster John Knox Press,
Louisville, 2004, p. 19
HYMN: “God
of Our Life”
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Generous God, source of every morsel
we eat and every gift we are moved to share…test us, challenge us, feed us,
that our eyes may be opened to realize the bounty we receive from your hand,
our ears may be opened to hear the prophet’s word, and our will may be strengthened
to follow fearlessly where Christ leads, to you glory, and for the benefit of
all humankind.
Remind us that miracles are still
possible. Help us to let go of the limits that we would set on ourselves and on
what we think you can do. Give us hearts and minds of abundance. Create in us
an expectancy of the goo in life, of the good in each other, and then empower
us to live into that.
It is in that expectancy that we lift
to you in faith those of our community and world who need your peace and abundant
love: Virginia DesIlets … Peggy Jamison … Judy’s daughter Rosa … Darlene … Joel Scrivner … John Matthews … Margaret
Dunbar … Evelyn Neasham … Sandi …Trisha … Dave … Jacob … Joyce … Jennifer …
Chuck … Courtney … Ethel … Helen. (Additional prayers …………)
We bring before you our concern for
our nation and the divisiveness that is tearing it apart. We pray for the means
to deal with this virus, to bring an end to it and in between times to have the
strength to bear it. Show us ways we should be supporting each other rather
than making this one more divisive issue. We pray for those who are sick in
mind or body, those who battle addictions, who suffer from violence or
perpetrate it, the lonely, the poor, the oppressed, the exploited.
We pray for ourselves. Within the dark
corners of our hearts we hold anger and resentment, fear and loneliness, doubts
and questions, dreams and longings. We have hurt places that won’t seem to
heal. Touch those, tender God and bring your healing.
We
entrust to you these prayers and those that remain yet in our hearts as we pray
the prayer Jesus taught: 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
debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen.
CALL TO OFFERING
The
earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.
Let us present to God our lives and offerings, grateful for the gifts we have
been given.
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Blessed
are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us
with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what
we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love; through the one who gave
himself for us, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “God
of the Sparrow”
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
You
are often challenged to see other people through God’s eyes and God’s heart.
For this next week—at least—try seeing yourself through God’s eyes and God’s
heart. See yourself as the Pearl of Great Price and know that nothing can ever
make God stop loving you.
As
you ponder that, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and
the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
CHORAL RESPONSE
May the Lord, Mighty God, bless and keep you forever.
Grant you peace, perfect peace, courage in every endeavor. Lift up your eyes
and see his face and his grace forever. May the Lord, Mighty God, bless and
keep you forever.
~~~~~~~~~~
LOOKING
AHEAD
Worship has
resumed under restricted conditions which include a 40-person limit, 6’
distancing, masks, and no physical contact. Reservations are on a first-come,
first-served basis. Contact Jon Zieber at the church office to get on the list.
Being on the list once does not automatically sign you up for subsequent
services. You need to register each time.
PRAYER
CARE:
John Heinzenger, Virginia
DesIlets (fall/injured ribs on 6/16), Peggy Jamison (knee replacement 6/25), Margaret
Dunbar (fall/broken tailbone), Judy’s daughter Rosa Lester (retinal bleed), Darlene
Wingfield (pulmonary fibrosis), Joel Scrivner (heart attack), John Matthews
(cancer), Sandi Posz (lymphoma), Trisha Cagley (health problems), Dave Clark
(kidney cancer), Jacob Cunningham, Joyce Sahlberg (health issues), Jennifer
Schirm (Parkinson’s), Chuck VanHise (leg/walking rehab), and Courtney Ziegler
(Huntington’s).
LECTIONARY
FOR 8/2/20
Genesis 32:22-31;
Psalm 17:1-7, 15;
Romans 9:1-5;
Matthew 14:13-21
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