PIONEER
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Worship
via Blog 19th Sunday after
Pentecost October 11, 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 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. 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.
-
If
you wish to contribute toward the relief effort for the Oregon wildfires, you can
do that through the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Fund. You can write a
check to the church, earmarked Oregon wildfire relief or you can contribute
directly to PDA by phone at 800-872-3283.
-
Session
will meet at 6:00 on Tuesday the 13th in the downstairs Fellowship
Hall.
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 the valleys of misplaced
loyalty.
Come, seeking to meet the God of all
worlds.
We
have come to praise God and give thanks.
We
believe God’s steadfast love endures forever.
We come together that our faith might be
strengthened.
We seek the strength to live by all we
profess.
God’s
awesome deeds saved our ancestors.
Surely
God’s steadfast love continues with us.
God continues to deliver us in times of
distress.
God’s steadfast love endures forever.
We
rejoice that God is near and available to us.
We
hear God welcoming us to this time of prayer.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Gracious God, you have invited and
welcomed us to this place of worship. You draw us away from the idols we create
to take your place. When we come together, we sense that there is nothing in
life that can substitute for a vital relationship with you. Yet we are only
dimly aware of who you are. All the mysteries of the universe are in your
hands, yet you have made yourself known among the people of this earth. We
catch glimpses of your work among us are amazed. We want to meet you again
today, as for the first time. Touch us. Remake us. Help us to stand firm in the
faith. Amen.
OPENING
SONG: “Spirit of the Living God”
CALL TO CONFESSION
God is not fooled by our pious words of
faith. God knows our fascination with personal idols—with pastimes and
possessions that take our attention and resources every day. Like our ancestors
before us, we have sinned and deserve God’s wrath. As God showed mercy to the
Hebrew people, we seek that mercy as we bring our petitions, seeking a fresh
start.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
God
of mercy, you have planted within us a desire to observe justice and do
righteousness. But we are often defensive, fearful, and distracted. We spend
more time with our self-focused interests than with your truth. We seek
temporary thrills rather than lasting meaning. Then we are disappointed when it
brings no fulfillment. We return to you, loving God, intent on following the
guidance we are receiving from you. Save us from ourselves. (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 Zoey. Good morning Fiona.
Did you sleep well last night? Good! When I was little sometimes I was afraid
of the dark and was afraid to go to sleep, so I didn’t sleep well. When it was
dark in my room, I started thinking there might be something under my bed. Or I
would hear the branches of the tree outside my window scraping on the
windowpane and I’d think there was a monster trying to get in. Then I would get
scared. But guess what? There was no monster outside and there was nothing
under my bed.
When we think about scary things then
we can make ourselves scared. Have you ever done that? What if we thought about
nice things instead? You could think about your favorite things to do with
Daddy. Or think about baking cookies with Mama. I even like to think about
Jesus sitting beside me and holding my hand. If I’m thinking about good things
then I can’t think about bad things at the same time.
Another nice thing to think about is
angels. Do you know, the Bible says we angels that watch over us. That’s a nice
thing to think. Sometimes when I’m trying to go to sleep, I wonder what my
angel’s name is. And I think about all the good things about my angel watching
over me and being with me through the day and night and then I go to sleep and
sleep well. Let’s pray:
Dear Jesus, thank you for being with
me even through the night and helping me so I’m not scared. And thank you for
giving me my very own angel to watch over me and keep me company. 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: Psalm 91:1-6; 14-16
He who dwells in
the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty, will
say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I
trust." For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the
deadly pestilence; he will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you
will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear
the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence
that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. … Because he cleaves to me in love, I will
deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. When he calls to me,
I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor
him. With long life I will satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
SCRIPTURE 2: Philippians 4:1-9
Therefore, my
brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the
Lord, my beloved. I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord.
And I ask you also, true yokefellow, help these women, for they have labored
side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my
fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
Rejoice in the Lord
always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let all men know your forbearance. The Lord
is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is
honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is
gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen
in me, do; and the God of peace will be with you.
SERMON: “Think Better” Rev.
Jean Hurst
Scanning
the news on the Internet last week, I came to the bottom of the run of news
where the ads try to pull you in with catchy titles. The one that caught my eye
was “You are what you eat. So eat better.” I’ll adapt that for the sermon. You
are what you think. So think better.
That’s
essentially Paul’s message to the church at Philippi in today’s reading. He
starts off with an entreaty to two women co-leaders of the church to get along
and agree. When there is dissension in a church, it carries over to the other
members, causing anxiety and apprehension of where it might lead or causes some
to feel they must take sides. It pulls them into negative thinking. He’s urging
the members of that congregation to instead be part of the solution in helping
and supporting these women.
He tells
them to rejoice. Rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice always. That may sound like odd
advice—be joyful—when you’re in a conflict situation, but maybe it puts things
in better perspective. He’s urging them to remember what they have in the Lord,
to be joyful about what they have received in Christ, to be joyful about the
eternal promise that is theirs, to keep perspective on how the issues and
conflicts fit into the overall picture.
Then he
urges, “Let all men know your forbearance.” That’s a word we don’t use much, so
I looked up the definition. Forbearance means patient self-control, restraint
and tolerance. It’s what we didn’t see in the presidential debate—from either
candidate. Forbearance isn’t something you can credibly claim to have—it is a lived
character trait, something you demonstrate in the doing. Paul is telling the
congregation to live it, to be patient, to be tolerant, to control themselves
even during times of uncertainty or conflict. These are traits we should be demonstrating
as Christians.
Then come
words of reassurance. Don’t be anxious. Don’t worry. Don’t think about all that
could go wrong. Remember that the Lord is at hand. Trust in that. Whatever is
troubling you, pray about it and ask for God’s help. At the same time, be
thankful for what is good and right in your lives. Then the peace that passes
all understanding, the very peace of God, will keep and guard your hearts and
minds as you remember who you are in Christ Jesus.
Paul
offers this little church a method to use in getting through uncertain and
difficult times. He says, fill your heads with the good stuff—what is true,
what is honorable, what is just, what is pure, what is lovely, what is
grace-filled, what is praise-worthy. Think about those things instead of the negative. Think about what you have
learned about living a life of faith in Jesus.
Paul’s
counsel to that church in Philippi is also good counsel for those particular
times. Since Jesus’ return was obviously not as imminent as they thought it
would be, the question must have arisen, “How then do we live as followers of
Jesus?” As well, they could add, “with all that’s going on in our world.” They
not only were having to live with the unknown but they were also having to live
with the politics of their times.
There were
the politics of the harsh and oppressive Roman occupation and the resultant
persecution of the Christians. There were the politics of other faith groups
and their persecution of Christians. There were definitely politics in the
church with conflicting claims of how faith should be done in order to be
authentic. Add to all of that the struggles of their daily lives and we can
understand their question of just how they were supposed to be living out their
faith as followers of Jesus.
And here
we are today—also faced with the politics of our times. Add to that all the
other stuff that’s happening in the world. It weighs on us. It burdens us. We
carry too much angst. We worry too much about things over which we have no
control. We are impatient for resolution to things that only time will reveal.
We fill our minds with negativity in the guise of staying current on events and
news. These truly are historic times we live in. One day we’ll look back on
them and either be at peace over how we lived through it or feel regret that we
didn’t live it differently.
The regret
can come with the knowledge that all these goings on takes a piece of us. It
takes our peace of mind. It takes our energy. We feel it in our bodies in
tension, headaches, a clenched gut, raised blood pressure, sleep issues. For
some, it’s taking our relationships. It’s taking our time as we give more and
more of it over to the issues of the day even when we may not have control over
those issues. We think about them. We talk about them. We argue about them. We
read about them. We watch them. It eats at us and we are consumed by them. We
truly need to embrace Paul’s advice to the little church he founded. He says,
“Whatever.”
Whatever
is true. Whatever is honorable. Whatever is just. Whatever is pure. Whatever is
lovely. Whatever is grace-filled. Whatever is excellent. Whatever is
praise-worthy. These are the things we should think about. This is what we fill
our minds with instead of all the negative that weights down our hearts and
souls.
A couple
of points here: one, this is not a recommendation to become apathetic or to
totally disengage. After all, Paul told his little church, “Keep on doing the
things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me.” He’s telling
them to hold to what they know is right and good. So, decide what you can
influence and do that. Educate yourself. Find out what is true. Decide what you
want for your children and grandchildren’s world. Then vote. Be responsible.
Embrace the serenity prayer. You remember it: God grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and
wisdom to know the difference.
You may
not be able to do anything about the wildfires but what you can do is send
financial help and pray. You likely can’t do anything personally about the
political vitriol but what you can do is refuse to let it dominate your life,
refuse to get drawn into it, refuse to argue about it, refuse to take an
uninformed or uneducated position on it. You can choose to be active in
political movements, write letters to your representatives, and pray. Then pray
some more.
When the
issues keep bleating in your brain, follow Paul’s advice. Think about something
else. Think about something good. I said there were two points to note. The
first was not putting energy into what you can’t control or beyond your ability
to influence. The second is that Paul’s solution is not a purely religious one.
He said whatever. Whatever is lovely
and pure and praise-worthy and excellent.
That gives
us a lot of room for thinking about and engaging in things that please us and
delight our hearts. Certainly, it means we can take some of that time that’s
gone to current issues and refocus it on activities we enjoy—reading, hobbies,
music, hikes, gardening, etc. It goes beyond current world events. If we’ve got
a stress, a worry, a crisis in our lives we have a tendency to dwell on it. We
think about the worse outcomes. That becomes our reality. It affects us
physically as well as emotionally. It impacts our relationships. It dims our
hope. We can choose to think differently.
I’ll give
you an example for which I have Courtney’s permission to share. Courtney had
been taken to the hospital last week with abdominal pain. When I visited her in
the hospital, the doctor was there. He discussed the possibility of her going
to St. Charles for surgery. Courtney didn’t want that. She wanted to stay in
Harney. The idea of going to Bend for surgery clearly was causing her anxiety.
I asked her why. Her answer is a tribute to Pioneer. She said this is where her
support system is. Here, there are people who care about her. Over there she
would be all alone. The doctor left us to talk.
Having
been thinking ahead to this sermon, I pulled up the scripture on my cell phone.
We read it and then talked about it, how Paul tells us to think about the good,
the positive, the honorable, the lovely. We discussed ways of doing that. One
way would be for her to think about those people at Pioneer who were her
support system. Another was to imagine God holding her and rocking her like a
child.
Later that
day, when I returned, she told me she’d used memories of her times with her
father and other positive thoughts to fill her mind so that she wouldn’t think
about negative things. It worked for her. She was cheerful and upbeat at that
second visit and felt much better physically as well.
She ended
up going home while they studied further on her medical conditions and the
proper way to treat them. The potential, at this writing, is that she still
could still end up going to Bend for surgery. But she sounded very much at
peace with it. Had her mind continued to dwell on the negative side of this
experience, I’m sure her reaction would have been quite different.
Another
example comes from Sarah Young’s devotional book, Jesus Today. She talks about worry as thinking things at the wrong
time. She says when worrisome things come to mind at a time when you can do
nothing about it—like when you’re trying to go to sleep--take swift action.
Tell yourself, “Not now!” and direct your mind elsewhere with the best
direction being toward God.1
There is
much in the world today that causes us anxiety. It creates a lot of uncertainty
about the future. There is much in our personal lives to cause anxiety. It’s
part of life. The things we have control over or are able to influence, we
should. As we encounter those things over which we have no control, we decide
how we will respond. We can worry and let it weigh on us or we can hand over to
God what we cannot control. We can pray. And then we can think about things
that are good and noble and lovely and true and just and excellent. In that we
find hope. We are what we think so think better. Amen.
1 Sarah Young, Jesus Today: Experience Hope
through His Presence, p. 176, Thomas Nelson Press, Nashville, 2015
HYMN: “Rejoice,
Ye Pure in Heart”
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
As
we are gathered in your presence, O God, we proclaim your faithfulness and
saving power. Like those early disciples, we, too, are drawn to follow Jesus
who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. Baptize us anew, that the Spirit of Peace
may abide with us, drawing us together despite the differences and distances
between us. Gather us into unity in your church. Help us to encounter you in
new ways and stir us to an excitement that leads us to go out and tell others
so that they, too, might know your love and grace. Fill us with joy at being
your disciples and following your will. When we would hold back in the safety
of the shadows, Lord, draw us out into your light. Look into our hearts and
reveal to us what we can become and then help us to grow into that for which
you created us.
As
well, O Lord, lay on our hearts a burden for your people and a tenderness for
them, even those we would call enemy. Lead us to the action that follows prayer
as we lift up to you the leaders of our country and leaders around the world
………. The lives of your people who live in poverty, hunger, and oppression ……….
the victims of fires and virus ………. Those in prisons and hospitals ………. Those
held captive by addictions and abusive relationships ………. Those who are frail
in body, mind or spirit.
We pray for those close to us,
for Phyllis Bauer ... Darlene Wingfield … Lois White
… Virginia … Cherry … Judy’s daughter
Rosa … John Matthews … Margaret Dunbar … Trisha … Dave … Jacob … Joyce …
Jennifer … Chuck … Courtney … Ethel … Helen. (Additional prayers …………)
God
who guides our lives, 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
God invites us to invest our time and
resources in ways that build rather than destroy, in work of lasting value
rather than temporary distraction. Through the church, we seek to offer a
quality of life focused on the worth of every individual, on justice for all
and excellence in all things. Let us consider whether our offerings and our
lives praise God.
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Holy God, may our offerings reflect the amazing
abundance you entrust to our care. As we find joy in giving, may others be
inspired to give their best, and may all of us realize your peace, dwelling
within and among us as we serve in Christ’s name. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “Joyful,
Joyful, We Adore Thee”
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
Your
charge this week is simple. Think about what fills your mind and make a choice.
Think good thoughts.
And
remember … that 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.
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LOOKING
AHEAD
October 11 following
worship M&M
October 13 6:00 p.m. Session
October 20 10:30
a.m. Women’s Spirituality
October 25 following worship Deacons
PRAYER
CARE:
Phyllis Bauer (aging issues), Lois White
(lymphoma), Virginia DesIlets (broken hip), Darlene Wingfield (heart valve,
pulmonary fibrosis, breast cancer), Margaret Dunbar (fall/broken tailbone),
Judy’s daughter Rosa Lester (retinal bleed), John Matthews (cancer), 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 10/18/20
Exodus
33:12-23; Psalm 99; 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22
