PIONEER
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Worship
via Blog 23rd Sunday after Pentecost November 8, 2020
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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
-
Session
meets Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
-
Worship
& Music meets next Sunday following worship
-
Thanks
to all those who contributed cookies, pies, crafts, time and energy for a
successful Harvest Bazaar.
Now allow yourself a brief time of silence
as you open your hearts and feel God’s presence with you, right where you are.
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BAPTISM: Friends, remember your baptism … and be thankful.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Put away the things you have substituted
for God.
Let your worship of the one true God be
genuine.
We
seek to know God and to rejoice before our Creator.
We
know that God is beyond all our false images.
God is not deceived by our solemn
assemblies.
Our empty rituals do not impress our God.
We
want to give joyous expression to a growing faith.
We
choose to serve the God whom Jesus revealed.
Our hope is in God’s grace beyond all
judgement.
Our trust is in God’s love, greater than
our feeble imitation.
We
welcome the light God promises us.
We
seek to respond with faithful service.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Meet us here, Gracious God, for we need
your reassurance. Amid our griefs and empty toil, comfort and redirect us. From
our fears, deliver us. In our confusion, lend your light to guide us. Gather us
in watchful anticipation, lest we miss the signs of your presence and fail to
hear your summons to ministry. Amen.
OPENING
SONG: “Take Up Your Cross” LU#117
CALL TO CONFESSION
How seriously do we regard the decrees of
our spiritual ancestors? The psalmist commands the teaching of God’s law to our
children, that we and they might not forget all that God has done. Obedience to
the way of life God sets before us makes hope real. Let us confess our need for
help.
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
If sin means cutting ourselves off from
you and being unprepared to respond to your presence, surely we have sinned. We
are not ready for your trumpet call. We have not listened well or encouraged
one another in the faith. The distraction of many things has kept us from
meditation and prayer. We are witnesses against ourselves, for we have vowed
our loyalty and then have gone our own way. Merciful God, we seek your
forgiveness. 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.
TIME WITH CHILDREN
Good
morning Zoey and Fiona. Today we’re going to talk about something really
important. First, ask you Mama or Daddy to loan you a dollar bill. We’re going
to talk about money just a little bit but that leads us to more important
things.
Got
your dollar? Good. There’s a picture of someone on that dollar, isn’t there? I
guess you have to be pretty important to get your picture on a dollar bill,
don’t you? That’s George Washington. Do you know who he was? He was the very
first president of our country, the United States of America. He was our leader
and a very good one. The president is the most important leader in our
government.
We’ve
just finished the elections to decide who will lead our country next. President
Trump was running for re-election and former Vice-President Biden was also
running. They are still sorting things out so we’ll hear more about that.
People are still very excited about it.
People
were excited about Jesus, too. They expected Jesus to be like a king. There is
a game called King of the Mountain. When you play, someone stands on top of a
hill and claims to be king and others run up the hill and try to push them off
so they can be king instead.
The
people expected Jesus to run up the hill and push the Romans off. The Romans
were ruling the people and the people didn’t like it. They thought Jesus would
be better. But that isn’t the kind of leader Jesus planned to be.
Jesus
is the leader of the church. And not just this church but leader of all the
Christian churches in the world. Jesus shows us that power and authority come
from God, not from having the most guns or jets or bombs. Jesus is our leader
because we are part of his church.
If
you turn that dollar bill over, there’s a message on it to remind us. It says,
“In God we trust.” Let’s pray.
Dear
Jesus, thank you for being the leader of our church. Help us to be good
followers. Thank you that we can trust you. 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.
GLORY
BE TO THE FATHER
SCRIPTURE 1: 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and
sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not
grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have
died. For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are
alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede
those who have died. For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's
call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the
dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be
caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so
we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these
words.
SCRIPTURE 2: Matthew 25:1-13
"Then the
kingdom of heaven shall be compared to ten maidens who took their lamps and
went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For
when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise
took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all
slumbered and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, `Behold, the bridegroom!
Come out to meet him.' Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And
the foolish said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are
going out.' But the wise replied, `Perhaps there will not be enough for us and
for you; go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.' And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the
marriage feast; and the door was shut. Afterward the other maidens came also,
saying, `Lord, lord, open to us.' But he replied, `Truly, I say to you, I do
not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
SERMON: “Prepared
to Wait” Rev. Jean Hurst
Here we have ten young girls who just
want to party. They aren’t very old; they’re unmarried girls. Girls were
married off around the age of fourteen.
So these are bridesmaids whose friend would be getting married. Don’t
look for logic in this story of the party girls. It’s more an allegory than a parable. The
events are framed in order to give the desired meaning to the story rather than
being true to life.
For example, a real life story would
have the bridesmaids going to the bride’s house to wait for bridegroom to come
and fetch the bride to his own house. Here we’ve got the maidens waiting
outside the groom’s house for the groom to show up, with no mention of the
bride. Where is the bride?
We’re told right up front that five of
the girls were wise and five were foolish. No suspense builds on this one. We
just wait to see it revealed as to why five were considered foolish. Each has an oil lamp.
The wait for the bridegroom takes a
lot longer than people expected. And the girls fall asleep--all of them, so the
foolishness is not in dozing off. The cry goes out. The bridegroom is within
sight. Everyone rouses up, trims their wicks and relights their lamps. Now we
have a problem. Five of the girls--the foolish ones--failed to bring enough
oil.
You might think a person would have to
be pretty stupid not to bring along enough oil. Maybe so. But it reminds me of
when Sheila Cunningham and I were coming back from a presbytery meeting in
Pendleton. If I were honest I’d have to say Sheila was the wise one and I was
the foolish. As we’re heading out of Pendleton she asks if I have enough gas. I
glanced down to check my mileage predictor and looked at the wrong number. I
reassured her we were fine.
We were well on our way to Pilot Rock
when I looked again and saw my error. We wouldn’t even have made it to Pilot
Rock! We had to turn around and go back. I can empathize with the foolish
maidens. It’s pretty easy to be foolish, really. It’s easy to take things for
granted, to become complacent, to just not think. Or to underestimate time.
Like how long it’ll take for the bridegroom to arrive.
The foolish girls ask the wise
girls--who came prepared with an extra flask of oil--to lend them some oil
since they’d run out. The wise girls said no. Go to the oil merchant and buy
your own, otherwise we might run out, too.
The five foolish girls stumble off
through the dark to buy oil. While they’re gone, the bridegroom shows up and
everyone goes inside where the party begins. The foolish girls return and knock
on the door to be let in. The reply comes through the door, “Truly, I tell you,
I know you not.” That’s a euphemism for “get lost,” or more specifically “I
will have nothing to do with you.” No party for these girls.
So what does that mean for us? This
parable or allegory is about what the followers of Jesus do while awaiting his
return. This story is one in a series on that topic. It is preceded by the
parable of the master who went away and left his servant in charge of the
household and whether or not the servant would be faithful in his task.
Following today’s passage are two more
on the same topic. In upcoming texts, you hear about the parable of the talents
in which the Lord of the house goes on a trip and leaves his servants with
money and expects them to make good use of it while he’s gone. The other is the
familiar passage of “as much as you have done it to the least of these.” Each
of these is a story about whether Jesus’ followers will be faithful to his
teachings until he returns.
The gospel of Matthew was written
after the fall of Jerusalem, which was in 70 A.D. The first century Christians believed that
Jesus’ return was imminent. Many of them
quit working and doing anything and just sat around waiting for the return.
That’s where the delayed bridegroom fits in. Jesus is the bridegroom and he’s
been delayed a lot longer than his followers anticipated. The bridesmaids
represent the church.....us.....the body of Christ.
The issue in this passage isn’t about
falling asleep. The wise and the foolish all did that. Nor is it about living
in constant fear that God is going to turn you away from heaven’s gate at the
final hour because you didn’t believe in just the right way or have enough
faith.
The oil does not represent our belief
in Jesus. If it did, they had oil, they just didn’t have enough of it. To
believe that our salvation can be secured if we just have ‘enough’ faith puts
us at risk of the heresy of believing that we can save ourselves. If our
salvation is reliant on our believing hard enough or long enough, that negates
God’s grace. We are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
Scripture is clear about that.
Yet we so often struggle with the
question of whether we’ve done enough, believed enough, been good enough
followers of Jesus. How much faith is enough? How much discipleship is enough?
We’re always going to end up feeling that we’re just a little bit shy of what
we need. If we approach our relationship with God that way, we will always live
in fear. I don’t believe that is what God wants for us.
God wants us to be in relationship
with him, to respond to his grace out of love, not fear. God wants us to
continue to act faithfully, doing the things that Jesus taught, the things that
Jesus commanded. Jesus told us how to treat each other and all of God’s
children. He told us to love. He left us in charge in his absence. Are we going
to be faithful servants or not? Are we going to be wise bridesmaids or foolish
bridesmaids?
According to commentaries, the oil
represents obedience to Jesus’ teachings, continuing Jesus’ work. Not having
oil is allegory for failing to continue Jesus’ work until he returns. It’s
believing you won’t need the oil--won’t need to follow Jesus’ teachings because
he’ll be returning shortly. That is foolish thinking. It’s just as foolish to
become complacent, feeling like we’ve got all the time in the world and that
sooner or later, when it’s convenient to us, we can get around to living out
our discipleship as Jesus taught us. We all need the oil of obedience. It can’t
be borrowed.
Oil doesn’t come cheap. I would not
have you believe that salvation is based on ‘cheap grace’. That was the term
German theologian Deitrich Bonhoeffer used for believing that God’s grace is
casually and generously poured out to make people feel good and to excuse them
from Christian accountability. That kind of grace denies transformation of
ourselves or the world, fails to require change--a turning away from our sinful
behaviors. It costs the recipient nothing; it is a ‘grace’ that is void of
substance, of the cross, of obedience to or following of Jesus. It is an empty
grace.
By contrast, Bonhoeffer presents
‘costly grace’ as that which cost one everything that is previously meaningful.
He uses the biblical illustrations of the hidden treasure and the costly pearl
for which everything is sold in order to acquire it. He calls for us to live in
the world, not of it and to live in discipleship to Jesus.
Discipleship is going to cost us.....
time....money.... energy ....sacrifice of what we could do instead. It
might cost us status or prestige or the appearance of affluence. It can cost us
our pride. It can cost us those things that the world values, things that are
worthless in God’s kingdom. It can cost us having to think and act differently
than we might have, differently than our friends do. And yet, it is not such a
great price to pay. Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. We are
not asked to do more than we are able. Yet we are able to do much.
Just think about what we do through
the church—what you do. Think of all
the food we’ve collected for the Food Bank—one item at a time—just like the
Faith Dollars collected one dollar at a time in order to provide clean water
systems for people around the globe. We’ve sent money for Oregon wildfire
relief. When we vote for legislation that helps people whose lives are mired in
poverty or crime or addictions or violence--that’s evidence of oil in our lamps
or when we work to eliminate oppression, to bring peace closer to reality, to
ensure human dignity—that’s the oil of discipleship.
When we visit our seniors who are
lonely and isolated, when we offer a kind word or a listening ear to someone
who is hurting or scared or confused—that is discipleship. When we act with integrity and love in
dealing with aging parents as heartbreaking and frustrating as that can
be—that, too, is discipleship. When we stand up to intolerance and bigotry and
injustice—oil in the lamp--discipleship.
When we raise up a child in the faith,
bring a child to church, take time to show kindness and interest in a
child--that is precious oil in our lamps. When we let go of grievances, when we
forgive, when we work to bring reconciliation, when we treat others as we would
like to be treated--discipleship. When we create a sense of hope for a better
tomorrow, that is a living of our faith, that shows we’ve not run out of oil.
When we do these things, big or small, we are living out our discipleship. It’s what we, as Christians, do while we
wait. There is much that needs to be done while we are waiting. Are you
prepared for the waiting? Are you willing to do the work of waiting? Amen.
HYMN: “Today
We Are Called to be Disciples” #757
PRAYERS OF THE
PEOPLE AND THE LORD’S PRAYER
Holy and mighty God, in whom we live
and move and have our being, we praise you for all that you are, for all that
we are and all that we can be because of you. Thank you for your steadfast
love, your constancy in a world that is ever-changing, a world in which we
don’t know what to believe and where the future lies. The only reliable future
is in you, Holy God. Your promise is sure. You are faithful. We put our hope in
you.
Tender God, your attention to all your
children amazes and surprises us. Help us this day to hear your call to us, to
accept your direction, and to follow your commands that the world may become
more faithfully your realm, a place acknowledging your rule, a homme for those
who have been intimidated and afraid, a community in which all are valued and
welcomes, whatever their contribution. Help us to celebrate your grace to
others with as much joy as we celebrate our own.
Sometimes it is hard to see, hard to
receive your grace. Too often our lives are in such turmoil that we lose our
focus on you. Thank you that even when we don’t feel worthy—even when we aren’t
worthy—you love us and accept us anyway. Touch our hearts, touch our lives and
bring renewal and joy.
We pray for your children here and
around the world—those who live in the shadow of fear and violence and hunger
and loneliness, those impacted by Covid, by wildfires, by economics. We pray
for those close to us, for George Sahlberg ... Phyllis Bauer … Beverly Patterson … Darlene
Wingfield … Lois White … Virginia …
Cherry … 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
How will our neighbors be prepared for
times of crisis? Who will help them discover spiritual riches more valuable
than all their material possessions? Our church is a resource, and our ministry
is for the whole world. Let us give our support, both financially and through
the gifts with which God has entrusted us.
DOXOLOGY
PRAYER OF DEDICATION
We set our hope in you God of all ages, and seek to
serve you through our offerings. You have entrusted us with abundance and we
are grateful. You have comforted and delivered us in times of trouble, and for
this we pour out our thanks. We bring ourselves with our gifts, asking you to
help us use all we have in the best possible ways. Amen.
CLOSING HYMN: “Called
As Partners in Christ’s Service” #761
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
There is a lot of uncertainty in the
world right now. As Christians, our charge is to live faithfully and to trust
our faithful God.
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.
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LOOKING
AHEAD
November 10 6:00 p.m. Session
November 15 following worship Worship & Music Committee
PRAYER
CARE:
George Sahlberg (infection, heart issues), Phyllis Bauer (aging issues),
Beverly Patterson (Sheila Cunningham’s mother) (aging issues), Lois White
(lymphoma), Virginia DesIlets (broken hip), Darlene Wingfield (heart valve,
pulmonary fibrosis, breast cancer), Margaret Dunbar (fall/broken tailbone),
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 11/15/20
Judges 4:1-7; Psalm 123; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11;
Matthew 25:14-30
