Twenty-forth Sunday
of Pentecost
**Please note this service is based on the format of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada. Unless otherwise indicated, all prayers come from Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW). Hymns and other prayers have been sourced to give appropriate credit.
**NRSV translation used for the readings, unless otherwise stated.
**This is for personal use at home as the church is unable to gather in our houses of worship but together we can worship in our own homes.
Introduction to the Day
Our readings during November speak of the end times. It is proclaimed
that the Israelites will be judged in front of the Lord. Paul says it will come
like a thief in the night and urges us to be awake and sober. Jesus tells the
parable of the talents, calling us to use our gifts, while we still have time,
for the greater and common good. In a world filled with violence and despair,
we gather around signs of hope – word, water, bread, and wine – eager to
welcome the good news of Christ’s coming among us.
Confession and Forgiveness
Blessed be the holy Trinity, ☩ one God,
who forgives all our sin,
whose mercy endures forever.
Amen.
Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid: cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another.
Most merciful God,
we confess that we
are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in
thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as
ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive
us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your
ways, to the glory of your holy name.
Amen.
In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins. As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all your sins, in the name of the God, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Gathering Song – Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart (ELW #873)
Greeting
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
And also with you.
Canticle of Praise
Prayer of the Day
Let us pray.
Righteous God, our merciful master, you own the earth and all its
peoples, and you give us all that we have. Inspire us to serve you with justice
and wisdom, and prepare us for the joy of the day of your coming, through Jesus
Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Amen.
Readings
Deborah was a prophet
and judge who, with her general, Barak, led a victorious holy war against a
stronger Canaanite force from the north.
A reading from the Book of Judges 4:1-7
The Israelites again did what was evil
in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. So the Lord sold them into the hand
of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was
Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. Then the Israelites cried out to the
Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the
Israelites cruelly twenty years.
At that time Deborah, a prophetess,
wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of
Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the
Israelites came up to her for judgment. She sent and summoned Barak son of
Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “The Lord, the God of Israel,
commands you, ‘Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the
tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. I will draw out Sisera, the general
of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his
troops; and I will give him into your hand.’”
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 123
Though we do not know and cannot calculate the day of Christ’s return, we live faithfully in the here and now as we anticipate the day when we will be given eternal salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
A reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 5:1-11
Now concerning the times and the
seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you.
For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a
thief in the night. When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction
will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will
be no escape! But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise
you like a thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we
are not of the night or of darkness. So then let us not fall asleep as others
do, but let us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and
those who are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us
be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the
hope of salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining
salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we
are awake or asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and
build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 25:14-30
Glory to you, O Lord.
Jesus tells a parable
about his second coming, indicating that it is not sufficient merely to
maintain things as they are. Those who await his return should make good use of
the gifts that God has provided them.
“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ.
Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable and pleasing in your sight O Lord, for you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
Think back to your childhood or adolescence. At one point you may have felt ostracized by your peers. They may have wanted more than you could give. Or, they may have rejected you for whom you were and what you could offer them. They may have taunted you mercilessly. Their barbs may have stung deeply. For a while you might have felt that the world stood against you.
Now, from your memory, engage your imagination. Envision God as the bully. Impossible? Then, consider Jesus' parable of the Ten Talents.
A man who is going away on a journey leaves his servants with a certain amount of money, each according to his ability. To the first he gave 5 talents, to the second, 2 talents and to the third servant, 1 talent." The servants are entrusted with something special and they each need to decide what to do with what they have been given.
The first servant takes his talent, his portion, or his gift, and invests it; and through smart management, sees the talent start to grow. In fact, he is able to double the master’s original amount.
The second servant, does the same thing. He takes his two talents, and is able to double what he has been given.
Now the interesting thing about both of these servants, is that they were able to take what the master had given them, and they were able to recognize that what they had been given by the master was meant to be used. Only in that conscious decision to risk using what they had been entrusted with, were they able to multiply that gift.
For both of these servants, it was a leap of faith, to risk perhaps losing the money, or if we are talking about a real talent, or spiritual gift, to risk making some mistakes. But they did it, and because of that ability to take real chances, to step out in faith, they were able to do mighty things and to give a wonderful report to the master when he returned.
The third servant, however, wasn’t able to take the same risk. He took his portion of the money, and he buried it in the ground. On some level, one could say that maybe he was protecting the master’s money. Maybe he was keeping it safe. But this servant wasn’t able to take that leap of faith to try to use what he had been given. He was afraid of being punished.
Sometimes we find ourselves in similar situations – where we are given opportunities to use our talents, our time, our energy, our spiritual gifts – we see an opportunity, but are afraid that we might mess up, or we might use them in the wrong way. We might see a chance to do something special, something that we know we have the ability to do, and we have the resources, but we lack the courage to step out in faith and use what God has given us.
If we are like the third servant, and we see God as an angry harsh God, waiting to hit us over the head with a lightning bolt when we mess up, then there is no way we can risk anything – there’s no way we will ever be able to step out in faith to use what God has given us. If we are afraid of consequences, if we are motivated by fear, then we’ll never be able to do great things and our gifts will never grow.
Can we really think of God as a bully? Would God punish us if we don’t use our gifts to our fullest extent?
I don’t think that’s the case at all. But sometimes it’s hard to get outside our head, cast aside our fear, and feel fully blessed.
Sometimes we feel God’s distance. There are even times God may feel like the enemy. We enjoy times of intimacy as graced moments. But we fail to realize that even in times of distance and estrangement God offers us God’s life.
God demands much from us. But God gave everything in return, the very life of God’s only Son.
We serve a God who has blessed us with gifts beyond our wildest imagination and the only risk involved is in not using those gifts at all.
Over and over, Jesus emphasizes that faithful Christian discipleship expresses itself through active and ready engagement.
As disciples of Christ, we possess an influence that makes us capable of ensuring the well-being of the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, and those who long to experience the refreshment of a full dose of righteousness.
The parable of the talents – whether money or actual talents – tells us that the stakes are high and our involvement is essential.
It’s up to each of us to recognize the specific occasions we have to shape communities in accordance with the good news.
The parable urges us to regard our work and the witness of the whole church as nothing less than rising to the moment when good-news-centered leadership is absolutely needed.
All of this is hard work, especially when we are tired, burdened, and lonely.
Fortunately, none of us labors alone. None of us influences others all on our own.
It is our talent to announce and embody a society brought together in Jesus Christ.
It is our talent to hold leaders accountable for just policies and to advocate for those who have been silenced.
It is our talent to fight for doctors, nurse, and teachers who are struggling and on the edge of burn-out.
As disciples of Christ, knowing that God’s faith, trust, and love for us will never waver whether or not we use our talents…what have you got to lose?
I pray that you find the strength to use your gifts rather than bury them, especially as the pandemic marches on and your neighbour needs you more than ever.
Amen.
Creed
Let us confess
the faith of our baptism, as we say the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God the
almighty,
creator of heaven and
earth.
I believe in Jesus
Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by
the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin
Mary,
suffered under
Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died,
and was buried;
he descended to the
dead.
On the third day he
rose again;
he ascended into
heaven,
he is seated at the
right hand of the Father,
and he will come to
judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy
Spirit,
the holy catholic
church,
the communion of
saints,
the forgiveness of
sins,
the resurrection of
the body,
and the life
everlasting. Amen.
Prayers of Intercession
Longing for Christ’s reign to come among us, we pray for the outpouring
of God’s power on the church, the world, and all in need.
Silence
Lord of the church, ignite your people with the passion of your love. By the fire of your Holy Spirit, unify us across ministries, congregations, and denominations, and refine us to participate in your activity throughout the world.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Lord of creation, we stand in awe at the works of your hands and praise you for the beauty of nature. Bless the earth for your glory and restore its integrity where exploitation has caused ruin.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Lord of the nations, sound forth your justice in the ears of all leaders. Increase concern for those who are most vulnerable, especially as international leaders forge trade agreements and cooperate to end human rights abuses.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Lord of all in need, search out all who cry to you in distress. Scatter the heavy clouds of depression, chronic illness, unemployment, and loneliness with your radiant light. Send us as encouragement and signs of your healing.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Lord of the stranger, stir up holy restlessness in us to extend love to those at the margins. Release our desire for control and open us to learn from the perspectives of others.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Here other intercessions may be offered.
Lord of the living and the dead, we give you thanks for all the saints at rest from their labors. Rouse us to live by their example, that saints yet to come may also know your love.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Receive our prayers in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, until that day when you gather all creation around your throne where you will reign forever and ever.
Amen.
Peace
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Offertory Hymn – Jesus, the Very Thought of You (ELW #754)
Prayer over the Gifts
**Although
not physically at our church buildings to share our offering together I would
encourage you to set your offering of money aside so that it can be dropped off
or placed in the church once services resume, to mail your offering to the
church, or to make donations online. Please remember ministry is still taking
place.
Let us pray.
Help us, through our offering thus day, to renounce all things that draw
us from your love. This we ask in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Thanksgiving for the Word
Praise and thanks to you, holy God, for by your Word you made all
things: you spoke light into darkness, called forth beauty from chaos, and
brought life into being.
For your Word of life, O God,
we give you thanks
and praise.
By your Word you called your people Israel to tell of your wonderful gifts: freedom from captivity, water on the desert journey, a pathway home from exile, wisdom for life with you.
For your Word of life, O God,
we give you thanks
and praise.
Through Jesus, your Word made flesh, you speak to us and call us to witness: forgiveness through the cross, life to those entombed by death, the way of your self-giving love.
For your Word of life, O God,
we give you thanks
and praise.
Send your Spirit of truth, O God; rekindle your gifts within us: renew our faith, increase our hope, and deepen our love, for the sake of a world in need. Faithful to your Word, O God, draw near to all who call on you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory forever.
Amen.
Lord’s Prayer
Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
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 trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever. Amen.
Blessing
Almighty God, Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit,
bless you now and forever.
Amen.
Sending Song – The Wellspring used with permission from Steve Bell
Dismissal
The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord’s face shine on you with grace and mercy.
The Lord look upon you with favor and ☩ give you peace.
Amen.
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