PIONEER
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Worship
via Blog Trinity
Sunday May
30, 2021
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 pandemic.
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)
Live
worship with masks and social distancing has plenty of room for additional
worshipers.
-
Spirituality
meets Tuesday at 10:30
-
Highway
Cleanup Changed to June 12
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
Ascribe to God glory and strength;
Worship God in holy splendor.
The
splendor of our Creator meets us here.
We
are filled with awe before our God.
The voice of God is powerful and full of
majesty.
God offers strength and peace to all
people.
God’s
voice thunders over the waters.
God’s
strength empowers our response.
Holy, holy, holy is the God of hosts.
The whole earth is full of God’s glory.
The
universe is God’s dwelling place.
There
is no place from which God is absent.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
O God, you are beyond our wildest
imagining. When we speak of you, there are no words to describe your majesty
and power. We know you best in Jesus of Nazareth who shared your loved with all
he met. He called for our rebirth as your children, cleansed by water and the
spirit. We come together seeking renewal of the vows made at our baptism. We
want to be faithful as Christ was faithful. We want to be fruitful in the work
you give us to do. Bless our worship that we may be a blessing to others. Amen.
OPENING
HYMN: “Great Is the Lord” LU#30
CALL TO CONFESSION
Sometimes we think we have nothing to
confess, until we are confronted by the awesome presence of the Creator of all
things. In awe before God, we come to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God of all worlds, we confess that we are too much
people of the flesh, living in slavery to our possessions and our fears. We are
so attached to our little corner of the world that we find it difficult to
identify with people whose experience is far different from our own. We do not
want to suffer with the homeless, the hungry, the refugees, the oppressed. We
turn away from the suffering of Jesus to pursue temporary advantages. We act
like just another human organization, not the body of Christ making a difference
in the world. O God, forgive us and reclaim us as your children. (continue with personal prayers………..) 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
SCRIPTURE 1: Romans
8:12-17
So then, brothers and
sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for
if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put
to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery
to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we
cry, "Abba! Father!" it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our
spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God
and joint heirs with Christ-- if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may
also be glorified with him.
SCRIPTURE 2: John 3:1-17
Now there was a man
of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. He
came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has
come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if
God were not with him." In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the
truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. "
"How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely
he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!" Jesus
answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God
unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the
Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You
must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound,
but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with
everyone born of the Spirit." "How can this be?" Nicodemus
asked. "You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not
understand these things? I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we
testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.
I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will
you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven
except the one who came from heaven--the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up
the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who
believes in him may have eternal life. "For God so loved the world that he
gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but
have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him.
SERMON “Snakes
and Crosses” Rev. Jean Hurst
Snakes.
Most people don’t like snakes. Have
you noticed that? Ask Edie. She’ll tell you there’s not much about a snake to like. Our language reflects that
disdain for the serpent. When we don’t trust someone we might describe them as a snake in the grass. When John the
Baptizer saw a group of Pharisees coming out to hear him preach repentance in
the wilderness, he called them a brood of
vipers.
Snakes can be
perilous. We know how dangerous rattlesnakes are around here. In the Garden of
Eden, a snake triggered the downfall of humanity by convincing Eve to disobey
God. In their wilderness journey, the people of Israel fell to whining and
complaining and as a result faced a hoard of death-dealing snakes. So a snake
seems an unlikely symbol to look to for healing.
Yet
that’s what it’s become. There are two different but similar medical
symbols—the caduceus with two snakes twined around a pole and the Rod of
Askelpios with one snake. Both are based on ancient stories. In one, the Roman
god Mercury once attempted to stop a fight between two snakes by throwing his
rod at them. The snakes twined themselves around the rod.1 Another
story is about Asklepios, the god of medicine who was called to heal the sick
son of Minos, the ruler of Crete. When he couldn’t, Minos locked him in a room
with the boy. A snake slithered under the door and Askelpios killed it. Another
snake slipped under the door and placed a leaf over the dead snake and it was
restored to life. Asklepios used that leaf to heal Minos’ son. Since then the
single snake twined on a staff has been a medical symbol.2 The third
story comes from the biblical account of Moses and those complaining Israelites
and their plague of snakes. God told Moses to put the image of a snake on a
pole and have the bitten people look on it and they would live.3
That
is the story Jesus referred to when Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the
Sanhedrin, came to him in the dark of night. Nicodemus knew he was taking a
risk. Peer pressure was a powerful influence even then. The Pharisees were not
well-disposed toward Jesus.
But there is something stirring in Nicodemus. He is drawn to Jesus, wanting to know more,
wanting something he can’t even define. He acknowledges Jesus as a teacher who
has come from God. Jesus surprises him with the declaration that no one can see
the kingdom of God unless they are born again. The Greek word he used was anothen which also means born from
above.
Nicodemus picks up on the other
meaning, born again, and is confused.
How can anyone, once grown, reenter their mother’s womb? He confuses the word
choice, hearing only the ‘again’ part of the meaning rather than the ‘from
above’ part. And it is interesting that
the popularization of the phrase ‘born again’ reflects an acceptance of
Nicodemus’ understanding rather than the work of the Spirit that Jesus was
offering. Nicodemus doesn’t understand
Spirit.
Jesus ups the ante. No one can see
the kingdom of God unless he is born again and no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and the
Spirit. Nicodemus is still confused and Jesus tells him that as a Pharisee, a
teacher of Israel, he should know these things. But if he can’t understand
earthly things, how in the world will he ever understand spiritual things?
Jesus then makes the connection with that other unlikely symbol of healing and
salvation—the cross.
In the era of Jesus
and even preceding that, the cross was, like the snake, a symbol of death. It
was the Romans’ favorite method of execution when they wanted to make a point
about the penalty of resisting the power and authority of the Roman empire.
Death. Slow. Painful. Public. Humiliating. They never could have imagined that
in a couple thousand years, two and a half billion people would look to the
cross as a symbol of salvation.
As a Pharisee,
well-schooled in the law and in scripture, Nicodemus would know the story of
the poisonous snakes in the wilderness. Jesus tells him that like the snake on
the pole, he, too, must be lifted up so that everyone who looks on him and
believes in him will be saved.
Nicodemus has been following a way of
believing that is based on personal action, by adherence to a rigid set of
rules, religious law, by living a religiously accepted definition of
righteousness, by moral achievement. These are all concrete. Written in the
law. Black and white. No interpretation. No dispute. That was the Pharisee way
and that is what allowed the Pharisees to condemn anyone who didn’t also follow
their way of believing and living their faith. Those were the ones who were not
worthy of their love or God’s.
Nicodemus’ faith is tied to what is
plausible, so he was unable to grasp the fullness of God present in Jesus. His
religion prevented him from experiencing the radical newness of God’s activity.
Because he has not been born from above, born of the water and the Spirit,
Nicodemus was unable to experience God’s Spirit creating the kingdom now.
Jesus explained the Spirit to him, how
it is like the wind. You can see what the wind does, whether with the gentle
movement of the grass or the violence of a storm. But you don’t really know
where it comes from. Jesus is talking about God’s wind--ruah in Hebrew, pneuma
in Greek; both meaning wind, breath, spirit.
That wind--the Holy Spirit--blows
where it will. It is not something we can control or direct within our own
comfort level, within our own definition of righteousness. To be born from
above means to be born to risk-taking. It means letting go of our pre-conceived
notions of who is right and who is wrong. It means accepting those we would
shun and loving the unlovable. The wind of the Spirit blows us out of our
comfort zones, moves us from that place of complacency and safety into the
unknown of God’s purpose. To be exposed to that wind, to give in to it, is to
be born from above, born anew to the possibilities of what God is doing in the
world. It is to be born to radical new perspectives.
To be born from above is to be born to
life, to action, to a new way of being and doing. It is a birthing that moves
us from our heads to our hearts. To step into that wind is to step into the
unknown. To be moved by the Spirit is to be willing to take risks. It means
risking stepping outside of what everyone knows about you. It even means
risking stepping outside of what you know about yourself. It means going beyond
what is safe.
I challenge you to go beyond safe.
I challenge you to risk being radical. For Nicodemus the concept of being ‘born
again’ was radical. He struggled with that. The passage today leaves us
hanging. We don’t know what Nicodemus did with this conversation with the
radical rabbi. We don’t know from the
ending of today’s reading whether Nicodemus was willing to step into the wind
of the Spirit. We learn more as John’s gospel story of Jesus unfolds.
In the 7th chapter the
religious rulers are grilling the temple police about why they didn’t arrest
Jesus. Nicodemus speaks up in Jesus’ defense. “Our law does not judge people
without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?”
They sarcastically accuse Nicodemus of also being from Galilee. Nicodemus
risked losing his standing and credibility, even his position, by speaking in
defense of Jesus.
At the end of the gospel, when Jesus
is taken from the cross, it is Nicodemus who brings over 100 pounds of burial
spices and helps prepare Jesus’ body and helps place him in the tomb. The life
and actions of Nicodemus show that he finally got it. He has been born from
above.
Does your life show that you have been
born again, born from above, born of the Spirit? Can others look at your life
and see that it is different? No one can say exactly what that is for you. Each
person’s experience will be different, each is called to that new life in the
Spirit according to God’s will and purpose for you. Perhaps you are called to
peacemaking, maybe even in a radical way. That might be taking the risk to be
the one to extend the olive branch, to mend a broken relationship, to let go of
being right and instead reach out in God’s love and be the instrument of
God’s healing and reconciliation.
Perhaps God’s purpose for you is in
the area of human rights, reaching out to and helping those who are most needy,
most vulnerable, without rights and without voice. God’s purpose for you might
be big and public or it might be simple and close to home and one-on-one.
Whatever the call, you are called just
as you are, despite how you might struggle with your understanding of Jesus’
teachings and how to apply them to your life. You are called to be authentic,
bringing the message of God’s love and grace, God’s healing and peace, by
sharing your time, your energy, your story, by sharing a piece of who you
are.
The snake and the cross—both held the
reputation of destruction and death. Through the love of God both became
symbols of healing and salvation, an assurance of life. God can transform our
lives as well so that when others see us, they see a source of healing, an
instrument of God’s love.
If we want to be born from above, born
of the Spirit, then we must open our hearts, let go of what we know, let go of
what is safe and predictable, and be willing to let God have his way in our
lives. Each of us then becomes witness to what Jesus told Nicodemus: "For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have
eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.” Thanks be to God.
1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4439707/
2 https://www.premiumcaremd.com/blog/the-battle-of-the-snakes-staff-of-aesculapius-vs-caduceus
3 Holy Bible, Book of
Numbers 21:4-9
HYMN: “They’ll
Know We Are Christians by Our Love”
Glory #300
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Maker of all things,
In the beginning, you created heaven and
earth.
In the fullness of time, you restored all
things in Christ.
Renew
our world, in this day, with your grace and mercy.
God in your grace …. hear our prayer.
Life of the world,
You breathed life into the flesh you
created.
By your Spirit breathe new life into the
children of the earth.
Turn hatred into love,
Sorrow into joy,
And
war into peace.
God in your grace …. hear our prayer.
Holy Trinity of Love,
You desire the unity of all Christians.
Set aflame the whole church with the fire
of your Spirit.
Unite
us to stand in the world as a sign of your love.
God
in your grace …. hear our prayer.
God of compassion,
Through your Spirit you supply every human
need.
Heal the sick,
Comfort the distressed,
Befriend the friendless,
And
help the helpless.
God in your grace …. hear our prayer.
Source of peace,
Your Spirit restores our anxious spirits.
In our labor, give us rest;
In our temptation, give us strength;
In
our sadness, give us consolation.
God
in your grace …. hear our prayer.
Tender and merciful God,
We lift up the concerns for those we love,
For those we gave difficulty loving,
For our own pain and struggles,
And
for the prayers in our hearts that have no words.
God in your grace …. hear our prayer.
We
lift up to you Sandy Cargill … Elaine LaChapelle … Larry Koskela … Linda and
Bill Kaesemeyer … Somer Bauer … Tasha Sizemore … Beverly Patterson … Lois White
… Virginia … John Matthews … Margaret
Dunbar … Darlene … Trisha … Dave … Jacob … George and Joyce … Jennifer … Chuck
… Courtney … Ethel. (Additional prayers …………)
Faithful God,
Your Spirit empowered the first disciples
To be witnesses to your truth.
Empower us and all who believe,
To speak your word and do your will,
That the world may know its true and only
light,
Jesus
Christ our Lord in whose name we pray:
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
As a sign of our rebirth in the Spirit, we
offer back to God all that we have received in this life. This time of giving
is a sacred symbol of our intent to live as God intends. We lift up our tokens
of thanksgiving, entrusting to the ministry of this church, here and around the
world, not only these gifts but ourselves as well.
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Receive our offering, God of glory, that our church
may come alive in the Spirit. May these gifts, and the way we live our lives
each day, proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Strengthen us in our giving.
Help us to be generous enough to experience the joy you find in showering us
with more than we can ever give away. Thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “Holy,
Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty” Glory #1
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
You are born of the Spirit and the
Spirit will reveal to you what that means for you. You worship a powerful,
triune God. Go through your week with confidence and trust.
As you do the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit is with you now
and always. 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
June 1 10:30 a.m. Women’s Spirituality
June 8 6:00 p.m. Session
June 10 8:30 a.m. Men’s Prayer Group
June 12 9:30 a.m. Highway Cleanup
June 13 following worship M&M
June 15 10:30 a.m. Women’s Spirituality
June 20 following worship Worship & Music
June 20 1:00 p.m. Prayer Shawl Ministry
June 22 noon PPW
June 24 8:30 a.m. Men’s Prayer Group
June 27 following worship Deacons
PRAYER
CARE:
Sandy Cargill
(breast cancer), Elaine LaChapelle (broken arm, anemia), Larry Koskela (stomach
and joint issues), Linda and Bill Kaesemeyer (Bill’s heart/breathing issues),
Somer Bauer (breast cancer), Tasha Sizemore (Crohn’s), Lois White (lymphoma), John
Matthews (cancer), Jacob Cunningham, Trisha Cagley (health problems), Dave
Clark (kidney cancer), Virginia DesIlets (age 99!), Margaret Dunbar (aging
issues), George and Joyce Sahlberg (health issues), Jennifer Schirm
(Parkinson’s), Chuck VanHise (leg/walking rehab), Darlene Wingfield (pulmonary
fibrosis, breast cancer), and Courtney Ziegler (Huntington’s).
LECTIONARY
FOR 6/6/21
1 Samuel 8:4-11
(12-15) 16-20 (11:14-15); Psalm 138; Genesis 3:8-15; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians
4:13 – 5:1; Mark 3:20-35
