PIONEER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Worship
via Blog 15th Sunday after Pentecost September
5, 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.
We will share the
Lord’s Supper as part of this worship service. So please pause
and gather your choice of bread and beverage. While the bread and grape juice
served in community and led by the pastor in person is our tradition, we are
facing times that call for us to do worship in new ways rather than being tied
to rigid tradition—much like the early church.
-
No
Women’s Spirituality on Tuesday
-
Men’s
Prayer Group meets Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
-
M&M
meets next Sunday following worship
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
Listen! God is welcoming us to this time
of worship.
Young and old, rich and poor, all are
welcomed.
This
is a place where all belong.
This
is a time when all are accountable to God.
The Maker of all seeks our common good.
The God of Mercy calls on us to be
merciful.
We
are not judges over our sisters and brothers.
We
are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.
Come to sing praises and put your trust in
God.
Come to prepare yourself to serve in
Christ’s name.
We
bring all our needs to God, our hope.
We
want to share faith and hope with others.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Author of all humankind, come to lift us
up to our full humanity as we worship you in this hour. You surround us on
every side and are acquainted with all our ways. You know our shallow motives
and our deepest thoughts. You are aware of the distinctions we make and the
favoritism we express. Yet you welcome us, not as strangers but as heralds of
your reign. We want to worship you and to represent you well. Come among us now
with your transforming power. Amen.
OPENING
SONG: “Healing Grace” LU#68
CALL TO CONFESSION
The Holy One—who opens eyes and ears,
makes the mute to speak, and delivers the tormented from demons within—invites
us to seek the healing we need. God reigns in spite of us but longs for our
participation in faith-filled ministries. Let us confess our estrangement from
the One who offers us true freedom.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
O God, we confess that our good intentions
have gone astray. We favor the people who are like us and honor those we deem
to be important. We dishonor the poor, write off those with whom we disagree,
excuse our self-serving behavior, and sow injustice on every hand. It is so
much easier to give advice than to do good. We would rather point fingers at
others who are unfair than to give up our own advantages. O God, we plead for
your forgiveness and for a depth of faith that will make a difference in us and
in our world. (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 146
Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will
sing praises to my God while I have being. Put not your trust in princes, in a
son of man, in whom there is no help. When his breath departs he returns to his
earth; on that very day his plans perish. Happy is he whose help is the God of
Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, who made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the
oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord
opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord
loves the righteous. The Lord watches over the sojourners, he upholds the widow
and the fatherless; but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will
reign forever, thy God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!
SCRIPTURE 2: Mark 7:24-37
And from there he
arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house,
and would not have any one know it; yet he could not be hid. But immediately a
woman, whose little daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, heard of him,
and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician
by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said
to her, "Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the
children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him,
"Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's
crumbs." And he said to her, "For this saying you may go your way;
the demon has left your daughter." And she went home, and found the child
lying in bed, and the demon gone. Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and
went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.
And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech;
and they besought him to lay his hand upon him. And taking him aside from the
multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched
his tongue; and looking up to heaven, he sighed, and said to him,
"Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were
opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And he charged them to
tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed
it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, "He has done all
things well; he even makes the deaf hear and the dumb speak."
SERMON: “Where
Does It Hurt?”
Rev. Jean Hurst
Let’s say you’re sick and
you pray to Jesus for healing. What would be your reaction if instead of
answering your prayer Jesus responded, “It is not right to waste healing on
dogs.”? Dogs!!! Would you feel hurt? Angry? Resentful? Let down? Jesus is not only
refusing to answer your prayer, he’s insulting you to boot!
This is not the Jesus we’ve
been taught to believe in. This is not gentle Jesus, meek and mild. This is a
Jesus who sounds all too human, much like people we know—or like us. Can we accept a Jesus who is fully
human?
Oh, we’re well aware of the doctrine that says Jesus is
fully human/fully divine. But we tend to sanitize that human part. Yes, he’s
fully human as far as having a physical body. And yes, he was tempted in the
wilderness, just like we are tempted at times. And yes, he experienced the let
downs and disappointments caused by his friends and foes. And yes, Jesus got
angry at the money changers in the temple, but that was a Godly anger.
We’re led to believe that
Jesus’ reactions to things are always God-like. Jesus lived and experienced in
a human way but he responded in a divine way—or so we’ve been told.
Yet if Jesus really was
fully human, then he experienced all
the human emotions—anger, fatigue, impatience, irritability, disappointment,
fear, revulsion—anything we might feel. As with all of us, it matters what one
does with those emotions. That’s where the debate about the Syrophoenician
woman comes into play.
Jesus had just come into the
region of Tyre and Sidon. It was Gentile territory though there were Jewish
communities there as well. But Jesus came on the QT. He didn’t want anyone to
know he was there. I suspect he was weary to the bone and sick at heart as he
had just come from yet another rankerous encounter with the Pharisees and the
density of his own disciples. He needs rest and to let his mind clear.
In barges a woman of the
region, begging him to heal her demon-possessed daughter. This was outrageous.
The woman, as a Canaanite, would be despised by Jewish people. Prejudices were strong in that era and the
animosities go deep. They were old
enemies. The Canaanite people were often called ‘dogs’ by the Jewish people.
Jesus grew up with this part of the culture, this aspect of the tradition.
Jesus’ answer to her takes
us aback. “Let the children first be fed, for it is not right to take the
children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” What?! This is Jesus calling this woman and her sick daughter ‘dogs’. A slur like
that may have been a common viewpoint between the cultures, but we expect
better out of Jesus.
So explanations have been offered to defend Jesus. One is
that he was teasing or toying with her. It was just banter. As we know from our
culture today, racial slurs are not acceptable, no matter how we want to
disguise them. And really, who would tease about someone’s sick child? Another
explanation is that Jesus saw his mission as being to the Jewish people, not to
the Gentiles, hence the response “Let the children first be fed.” The story is
also told in Matthew’s Gospel and there is no softening of the response. It
says, “It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
It seems Jesus may have something to learn from this
foreign woman. Instead of fleeing in humiliation, she stands toe-to-toe with
Jesus. "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's
crumbs." She is a mother fighting for her child’s life and she’s not
giving up. I imagine Jesus looked at her long and hard and then Jesus concedes.
"For saying that you may go—the demon has left your daughter."
So Jesus heals the woman’s
little daughter even though she’s an outsider, even though her people have been
their enemies for centuries, even though she’s a woman, even though she is a
different religion. Jesus doesn’t tell her to repent first ... or even after. He doesn’t require her to convert to his
religion. He responds to her as a
hurting human being, as a child of God and he includes her in God’s grace. And that is the Jesus we know.
Jesus goes on from there to the Decapolis, a Gentile area
which bordered on the Sea of Galilee. A deaf man with a speech impediment is
brought to him and Jesus doesn’t hesitate. He takes him aside and heals him.
Huge crowds come to Jesus in that wilderness area and Jesus once again teaches
and heals. The people are far from the cities so Jesus feeds them—over four
thousand people—Gentile people. Jesus has been convinced by the Syrophoenician
woman that his mission is to all
people, not just the Jews.
And that is our blessing. Because, frankly, we are all in
need of the grace and healing of Jesus. That grace and healing extends far
beyond the physical body. We tend to have a literal, medical concept of
healing. A person has a physical affliction and the prayer is that the
affliction go away, that the person be as they were before.
That is restoration and it can apply to many things that
touch our lives in ways that cause us pain or limit us. Healing is needed in
many areas of our lives—the mind, the spirit, the emotions, memories,
relationships.
When Jesus healed people, there was more to the story
than you might think. Many afflictions were viewed as demon possession—and
there was a stigma that went with that just as there would be now if a person
was accused of it. Mental illness and many neurological disorders like epilepsy
were labeled as demon possession. You didn’t tend to hang out with people who
were possessed by demons.
If you had a physical impairment—blindness, deafness,
paralysis—people believed that you had sinned and God was punishing you. And
you don’t want to get close to that! If you had something like leprosy, you
were ostracized, considered unclean and untouchable. You lost community,
participation in your faith tradition, and even contact with your family. And
with any of these, you wouldn’t be able to support yourself. It was the begging
bowl for you.
So Jesus’ touch and Jesus’ healing was a restoration.
That individual was restored to faith, community, family, and status within
society. Independence was restored or granted. It was literally a life-changing
event. Can you imagine, if you were one of these people, what it would mean to
you to regain your ability to socialize, to go to church, to earn a living
without having to beg?
Consider your own life. Where does it hurt? Where do you
need the touch of Jesus in order to be whole again? What baggage have you been
dragging behind you for years that you need Jesus to lift? What hurt within
your heart simply won’t heal and that scabby wound keeps your relationships
from being whole and complete, keeps you from trusting, gets in the way of
loving?
What in your life—something someone said, something
someone did, something you did—keeps you from being able to forgive someone or
keeps you from forgiving yourself? What scars do you carry that are caused by
the way a parent talked to you or treated you? What memories cause you not to
trust yourself, to be fully who you are?
Jesus is the healer. Over and over again, with both
Gentile and Jew, Jesus looked into people’s hearts, knew where their real pain
was, knew what truly needed healing and then, whether with a touch or even over
great distances, Jesus gave the gift of wholeness and healed lives. That gift
is there for us as well. We simply need to ask. And keep asking. Jesus once
told his followers to pray without ceasing. So keep praying. If necessary,
pound on the gates of heaven until God responds. Be as bold as the
Syrophoenician woman was in pursuing healing for her daughter. Be an advocate
in asking for healing for others as were the friends of the deaf man with the speech
impediment.
Prayer is not a guarantee that our prayers will be
answered or that healing will happen in just the way we desire. As C.S. Lewis
once said, “Prayer is request. The essence of request, as distinct from
compulsion, is that it may or may not be granted.”1 Lewis also
insisted, “Prayer does not change God, it changes me.”2
We pray,
believing that God is able to answer our prayers. We pray for healing, knowing
that Jesus is the great healer. As we pray for healing for ourselves or for
someone else, we do it with the recognition that God knows our whole lives. God
knows what we need as well as what we want. God’s healing may not be carried
out in precisely the way we expect. Yet always, God is working in the midst of
our lives and we are changed and healed in ways that are beyond our
comprehension. Knowing that, believing that, we trust in the God who holds our
every tomorrow. Amen.
1https://www.guideposts.org/faith-and-prayer/prayer-stories/pray-effectively/10-great-cs-lewis-quotes-on-prayer
2https://www.inspiringquotes.us/author/7540-c-s-lewis/about-prayer
HYMN: “I Will Come to You” Glory #177
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
God, for all you have given us, for
all the ways you have provided for us and watched over us, we thank you.
Tender God, we need you in our lives.
Sometimes we hurt, we’re scared, we are confused, we are uncertain about what
tomorrow is going to bring and how we will get through it. Help us, God, and
grant us strength and courage and peace.
Lord, we want to be good disciples.
Sometimes we just don’t think. Help us. Remind us. Show us what you would have
us do. Help us to truly understand and live out a love for all your people.
Trusting
in your love and grace we lift up to you those of our families, our church, our
community. We pray for those close to us: for Verna’s sister and family with
Covid … 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 …………)
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
Hear again the proverb: “Those who are
generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.” What a joy we
can know when our thankfulness exceeds our acquisitiveness, and our concern for
others outweighs our greed! We are invited to share what we have received.
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER
OF DEDICATION
We
give because you have been generous to us, gracious God. We give because we
need to give in order to realize your image within us. We give to feed the
hungers of body and soul that are all around us and deep within. May the
ministries of this church meet the needs of our members, our community, and our
world. Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Amen.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
Song of Preparation: “One Bread, One Body” Glory #530
Invitation to the Table
The
Lord’s table is not a piece of wood with clay dishes, but a place in our hearts
that connects us to our Lord Jesus. It is a place to which we come as we
remember his sacrifice, as we seek to experience his presence, as we are
nourished to continue his work, as we recognize our community in him despite
whatever distance or disease or obstacle that might separate us. It is the
place we come to renew our commitment to continue his ministry and mission. Our
Lord invites us to the table without condition, simply because we are loved.
Come with grateful hearts. Come with joyful hearts.
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our
God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is indeed right, O Holy God, to
give thanks for your amazing grace, to praise you for who you are, for who you
created us to be. We marvel at the truth that you are with us wherever we may
be. Though we worship from home, separated and for some, isolated, it is still
in you that we find life and purpose. We are children of grace and nothing can
separate us from your love.
You have given us the gift of your
Holy Spirit who unites us, binding us together as one body across the miles. By
your Spirit of grace transform our social isolation and distance into a holy
community, connecting us to each other by your sacred presence.
Bless the elements we each have
gathered, elements common to our ordinary lives. Let them represent for us the
body and blood of our Savior who gave himself for us. Amen.
Words of Institution
As we share these symbols of bread and
cup across the distance, we remember the story of Jesus with the disciples that
last night before he was arrested. He took the bread and blessed it and broke
it and gave it to them saying “Take, eat, this is my body, given for you.” And
with the cup he said, “This cup is the new covenant, my blood poured out for
you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink of it, remember me.”
And so we do. As we lift up many
pieces in scattered places rather than sharing the same loaf and as we drink
from separate cups instead of one, we do so remembering that throughout history
God’s people have often been scattered and in exile. Through the power and
mystery of the Holy Spirit, we are made one in Christ Jesus. These are the
gifts of God for us the children of God.*
The Bread of Life……………..
The Cup of Salvation …………….
*portions of
prayer adapted from prayer by Rev. Steve Kliewer, Interim General Presbyter,
EOP
Unison Prayer of Thanks
Gracious God, you have made us one with all
your people in heaven and on earth. You have fed us with the bread of life, and
renewed us for your service. Help us who have shared Christ’s body and received
his cup, to be his faithful disciples so that our daily living may be part of
the life of your kingdom, and our love be your love reaching out into the life
of the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
CLOSING
HYMN: “Let All Things Now Living” Glory
#37
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
Too often we fight against our own
personal demons. Too often we are blind to the truths and to the needs around
us as well as to our own failings. Too often our tongues are mute when we need
to speak out in support of others. Our Lord Jesus is the great healer as much
today as in biblical days. Trust him.
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
7 no Women’s Spirituality
-
September
9 8:30 a.m. Men’s Prayer Group
-
September
12 following worship M&M
-
September
14 6:00 p.m. Session
-
September
19 following worship Worship & Music
-
September
21 10:30 a.m. Women’s Spirituality
-
September
23 8:30 a.m. Men’s Prayer Group
-
September
26 following worship Deacons
-
September
28 noon PPW lunch meeting
PRAYER CARE:
Verna’s sister and
family with Covid, 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 9/12/21
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 116:1-9; James 3:1-12; Mark
8:27-38
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