PIONEER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Worship
via Blog 16th Sunday after Pentecost September 12, 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.
-
M&M
meets following worship
-
No
Session meeting Tuesday
-
Pastor
Jean will be out of town for radiation during the next three weeks and back for
weekends; planning on being in the pulpit
-
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
Come away from dullness and complacency.
Wake up! God is calling us to listen and
learn.
The
heavens are telling the glory of God.
The
firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
How long will we refuse the wisdom God
offers?
How long will we ignore God’s counsel and reproof?
The
law of God is perfect, reviving the soul.
The
decrees of God are sure, making wise the simple.
Our waywardness separates us from God.
Then, when we call on God, we hear no
answer.
We
gather to renew our relationship with God.
We
seek enlightenment and the revival of our souls.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of all wisdom, renew our sense of awe
and wonder as we gather before you, the Source of all knowledge. Make your Word
known to us, and stretch out your hand to touch us. Draw us away from our own
devices that we may truly listen to the witness of all creation speaking of
wonders we have ignored. Give us eyes to see beauty in all around us. Align us
with truth and righteousness. Quiet our scoffing and awaken our trust. Show us
the disciplines we need to stay in touch with you each day. Amen.
OPENING
HYMN: “Love the Lord Your God” LU #96
CALL TO CONFESSION
People of God, the scriptures remind us
that we are accountable to our Creator. Instead, in our times of panic, we put
God on trial, wondering why we cannot find the help we seek. Shutting our eyes
and ears to God becomes a habit we cannot break in times of desperation. That
is why, together, we come to God, asking to be cleared of secret faults and to
detect the error of our ways in time to turn around, letting God’s Word reach
our hearts.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God
of all worlds, we confess our arrogance in turning away from the knowledge you
offer and the relationship with us that you desire. We make light of your
commandments and scoff at discipline and boundaries as if they did not apply to
us. Our tongues reveal our ignorance before the vastness of your truth. The
words we speak in error spread poison that cannot be contained. Our waywardness
is destroying us. Our complacency before evil, within us and all around,
threatens life itself. O God, we cry out for forgiveness. (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: Psalm
116:1-9
I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my
supplications. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him
as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid
hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord:
"O Lord, I beseech thee, save my life!" Gracious is the Lord, and
righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; when I was
brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has
dealt bountifully with you. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, my eyes
from tears, my feet from stumbling; I walk before the Lord in the land of the
living.
SCRIPTURE 2: James 3:1-12
Not many of you
should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach
will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never
at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in
check. When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can
turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large
and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder
wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise the tongue is a small part of the
body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by
a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of
the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on
fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles
and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man
can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the
tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been
made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My
brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the
same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?
Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.
SERMON “Chasing Feathers” Rev.
Jean Hurst
There’s something nasty
in your mouth. We’re not talking about teeth today. It’s the wild, unbridled
creature—the tongue. The author of James says it’s a restless evil, full of
deadly poison. That’s quite an accusation and one we might take offense at. But
it’s worth examining. It’s a primary means of communication, though really,
it’s just an instrument to enable us to say what we want to say.
Does what we say matter? The author of James says yes,
it most certainly matters. What we say can have great impact for good or for
ill. And there are definitely a multitude of ways to say ‘it’, whatever ‘it’
represents for us. It might be face-to-face. It might be in some written form
like a text, an email, a letter, or a letter to the editor and therefore to the
whole audience of a newspaper. It could be a review a person writes for the
purchase of a service, experience, or product. It might be on Facebook. We live
in an electronic age and lots of what we have to say finds its way through
electronic media.
Sometimes we want to get a message out without having
anyone know who originated it. We’ve all seen lots of those in emails—emails
that get forwarded over and over and over again and claim to be telling a true
story. Don’t you wonder why people hide their identity? If you don’t know who
wrote it, it’s harder to challenge.
The authors usually feel justified in the messages
they send. They might even believe it themselves. Some of those are harmless,
but others are very damaging and downright lies. Examples that have been around
for a number of years include those about the chairman of Procter and Gamble
and the chairman of McDonalds supporting the Church of Satan. Others are about
more contemporary and divisive issues. They can be very damaging
It’s
interesting how lies, gossip, and maliciousness are sugar-coated to appear to
be something other than what they are. A
girl, resentful or jealous of another, may send out a malicious text message to
her friends, just to warn them away from the other student so their own
reputations won’t be sullied. A student
is suspicious of the good grades of another so he starts a rumor that that
student cheats on tests. A man thinks
his friend got overcharged at the car repair so he spreads the word that the
business is crooked so other friends don’t get taken in.
Even little
children can be carriers of gossip as evidenced by the action of a wise school
teacher who sends a note to all parents on the first day of school: “If you
promise not to believe everything your child says happens at school, I’ll
promise not to believe everything he or she says happens at home.”
Gossip
is a reality in all age groups, all cultures, both genders. Gossip is alive and
well even among good Christian people. Of course, we would never label our tale-carrying
as ‘gossip’. No, we are just showing ‘concern’ for someone we care about. There
was a woman who was the victim of such ‘concern’. She said, “They were ‘just concerned’ but not
concerned enough to call, to visit, or to drop an encouraging note. They didn’t talk directly to me, just with each
other. With friends like that, who needs enemies?”
Hmmm.
Good point. Gossip is damaging. When gossip spreads, the victim is hurt,
betrayed and ridiculed. It’s no wonder that the Bible warns against idle talk
and gossip. Proverbs 16:28 says, “A perverse man stirs up dissension and a
gossip separates close friends.” And Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the
power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
In
Matthew 12:36-37, Jesus said, “I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have
to give an account for every careless word you utter; for by your words you
will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." In the most
basic rules of our faith--the Ten Commandments, we find an edict against
bearing false witness or slandering your neighbor. There is a story that fits that one:
A
man went to his rabbi with a question. “Rabbi,” he said, “I understand almost
all of the law. I understand the commandment not to kill. I understand the
commandment not to steal. What I don’t understand is why there is a commandment
against slandering the neighbor.”
The
rabbi looked at the man and said, “I will give you an answer, but first I have
a task for you. I would like you to gather a sack of feathers and place a
single feather on the doorstep of each house in the village. When you have
finished, return for your answer.”
The
man did as he was told and soon returned to the rabbi to announce that the task
was complete. “Now, Rabbi, give me the answer to my question. Why is it wrong
to slander my neighbor?”
“Ah,”
the rabbi said. “One more thing. I want you to go back and collect all the
feathers before I give you the answer.”
“But
rabbi,” the man protested, “the feathers will be impossible to collect. The
wind will have blown them away.”
“So
it is with the lies we tell about our neighbors,” the rabbi said. “They can
never be retrieved. They are like feathers in the wind.”1
We
may be inclined to protest that the tales we share about another are not
slander, that they are true and that takes us back to veiling our gossip as
‘concern’. Even if the words are true, we might ask if the story is ours to
tell. Another approach is to consider whether, true or no, we would want the
same tale told about us.
An
old Arab proverb, which has been adapted by multiple groups, suggests that our
words be filtered through three questions: 1) is it true? 2) is it kind? 3) is
it necessary? That fits very closely with what our mothers frequently told us.
Do you remember what your mother said? “If you can’t say something
nice about someone, don’t say anything at all.”
One
commentator reported that “Oscar Wilde didn’t listen to his mother. He said,
‘If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come over and sit next
to me.’ That reveals a truth about most of us: we like gossip. We like those
juicy little tidbits. And after all, it’s just between you and me. We seem
blind to the fact that the person who gossips to you will just as
quickly gossip about you.”
Gossip
hurts. I don’t think any of us wants to hurt someone else. Most often we don’t
intend to engage in gossip. We just sort of slide into it without realizing or
thinking. When we do realize what’s happening, we are at a choice point. The
tongue is a two-edged sword. As the James passage points out, “With the tongue,
we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in
God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing.”
We
can choose blessing over cursing. The writer speaks of the power of the
tongue. Just as a horse can be bridled
and controlled, though it is a powerfully strong animal, and just as a large
ship can be guided by a very small rudder, so the tongue can be used for
powerful good rather than ill. Proverbs says, “A word aptly spoken is like
apples of gold in settings of silver” and “a tongue that brings healing is a
tree of life.”
As
Christians, we are called to a higher standard. We are called to be reflections
of God’s love in the world, to be instruments of life and healing for one
another. We are called to encourage and strengthen each other. If we can allow
love to be the bridle to curb and control the power of the tongue, we won’t
have to worry about having to chase feathers in the wind. Amen.
9/11 MEMORIAL PRAYER
God
of all people, who created us all out of love and for love, we come before you
today remembering and still grieving the evil that was perpetrated against our
nation twenty years ago. Those evil acts were the antithesis of love. All these
years later, our hearts still hold both sorrow and anger for the senseless loss
of so many innocent people and for the act of hatred against the nation we so
love. We saw that day the worst and the best of what lies in human hearts.
In
the midst of chaos and destruction and in its aftermath, we saw acts of heroism
and self-sacrifice on the parts of emergency responders and everyday citizens,
acting not just out of a sense of duty but because it was the right thing to
do. We saw spontaneous acts of generosity, compassion, and tenderness from
ordinary people who had no stake in the outcome except for an innate sense of
human decency—because what they did, in small or large way, was the right thing
to do.
Lord
God, never let us forget that day. Remind us always of the way this nation came
together to face a common tragedy. Especially in our current national
divisiveness, remind us who we are as a people, as a nation. Help us remember
no matter how much we differ on issues and ideologies, that we are one people,
one nation.
Remind
us, too, on a personal level, as we interact with those around us—family,
neighbor, co-worker—just how fragile and fleeting life is. Keep us ever aware
that the words we speak and the actions we take linger long after the words are
past our lips and the action done. Lord God, remind us who we are—children of
God, brothers and sisters, and that we are all called to love. Heal us, O God,
and grant us peace. Amen.
[Please take a couple minutes of silence in memory and honor of those who died in the 9/11 attack on America.]
HYMN: “Help
Us Accept Each Other” Glory #754
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Creator of all, you appoint us to serve as
ministers of justice, to be examples of righteousness, to be teachers of truth.
Help us to see the fulfillment of your word and the new things you now declare,
so we may receive the strength you promise and through that give a believable
testimony to your world. Thank you, tender God, that you do not abandon us to
the task, but that you walk with us, holding our hands, leading us and
supporting us.
Show us, Lord, how to be true
disciples of Jesus, to bring your gospel to those in need through gentleness
and healing. Let your light shine through us and allow us to be light to the
world. Grant that through our words and actions, through our very lives, that
we will be hope to a world so in need of your hope.
We pray for that world, gentle God,
for people who cannot see your truth and cannot see the needs of your people.
We pray for those who are chained by oppression, poverty, disease and abuse. We
pray for those who sit in darkness, confined in dungeons which are sometimes of
their own making, often of their despair. Help us to be light and hope for each
other.
God, we ask for your comforting, healing
presence in the lives of Verna’s sister and family with Covid … for Ray
Swarthout recovering from pneumonia … Sandy Cargill … Elaine LaChapelle … Larry
Koskela … Linda and Bill Kaesemeyer … Somer Bauer … Tasha Sizemore … Beverly
Patterson … Virginia … Margaret Dunbar … Darlene … Trisha … Dave … Jacob …
George and Joyce … Jennifer … Chuck … Courtney … Ethel … and Pastor Jean.
(Additional prayers …………)
In the midst of all the crises in the
world from fires and weather and wars and disease, we ask that you would guide
us to seek solutions and to respond in life-giving ways.
Guide our own lives, we pray. Touch
those hurting places in us and heal us. Strengthen our faith and show us how to
live it in a world that scoffs. When our way seems dark, take our hand and walk
us through the darkness. Quiet our fears and show us the way of hope so that we
do not despair.
We pray in the
name of Jesus who taught us to 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
The ways we use the wealth entrusted to us
teach even more than our words. What messages do our offerings send to the
world? Do they communicate our delight in knowing God and following the Christ?
May our offerings and our lives reflect our faith.
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
We offer the treasures of this world as a way of
recalling all of us to a right relationship with you, O God, the source of all
wisdom and truth. Your design for life is more to be desired than the finest
gold. To learn from you and to serve you is our highest joy. May our offerings
and our daily lives communicate this message. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “Fill
My Cup” Glory #699
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
Your charge for the week is to watch
your tongue! Be aware as you speak the impact your words can have. Let them be
words of encouragement, of healing, of grace.
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
-
September
12 following worship M&M
-
Sep
13-17 pastor in Bend
for radiation
-
September
14 No Session Meeting
-
September
19 following worship Worship & Music
-
Sep
20-24 pastor in Bend
for radiation
-
September
21 10:30 a.m. Women’s Spirituality
-
September
23 8:30 a.m. Men’s Prayer Group
-
September
26 following worship Deacons
-
Sept
27-Oct 1 pastor in Bend for
radiation
-
September
28 noon PPW lunch meeting
PRAYER CARE:
Verna’s sister and
family (Covid), Ray Swarthout (recovering from pneumonia), Sandy Cargill
(breast cancer), Larry Koskela (stomach and joint issues), Linda and Bill
Kaesemeyer (Bill’s heart/breathing issues), Somer Bauer (breast cancer), Tasha
Sizemore (Crohn’s), Jacob Cunningham, Trisha Cagley (health problems), Dave
Clark (kidney cancer), Virginia DesIlets (age 99!), Margaret Dunbar (home now),
George and Joyce Sahlberg (health issues), Jennifer Schirm (Parkinson’s), Chuck
VanHise (leg/walking rehab), Darlene Wingfield (pulmonary fibrosis, breast
cancer), Courtney Ziegler (Huntington’s), and Pastor Jean Hurst (kidney cancer
returned).
LECTIONARY
FOR 09/19/21
Jeremiah 11:18-20; Psalm 54; James 3:13—4:3, 7-8a;
Mark 9:30-37
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