Eighth Sunday After 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.
Opening Prayer
Remember us, gracious God, when we cannot see your way and purpose, and
renew in us the joy of your kingdom of light and life. We ask this in the name
of Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.
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.
God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and
made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved. In the name
of ☩ Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven.
Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may
live in your hearts through faith.
Amen.
Gathering Song – All Are Welcome
(ELW #641)
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 – Glory to God (page #213)
Prayer of the Day
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Let us pray.
O God, powerful and compassionate, you shepherd your people, faithfully
feeding and protecting us. Heal each of us, and make us a whole people, that we
may embody the justice and peace of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and
Lord.
Amen.
Readings
A reading from the Second Book of Samuel 7.1-14a
Now when the king was settled in his
house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the
king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but
the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you
have in mind; for the Lord is with you.”
But that same night the word of the
Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you
the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the
day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been
moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all
the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of
Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you
not built me a house of cedar?” Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant
David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following
the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever
you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make
for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will
appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live
in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them
no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people
Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord
declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are
fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring
after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his
kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of
his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.
When he commits iniquity, I will punish him with a rod such as mortals use,
with blows inflicted by human beings.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Psalm 89.20-37
I have found my servant David;
with
my holy oil I have anointed him;
my hand shall always
remain with him;
my arm also shall strengthen him.
The enemy shall not outwit him,
the
wicked shall not humble him.
I will crush his foes
before him
and strike down those who hate him.
My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be
with him;
and
in my name his horn shall be exalted.
I will set his hand
on the sea
and his right hand on the rivers.
He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father,
my
God, and the Rock of my salvation!’
I will make him the
firstborn,
the highest of the kings of the earth.
Forever I will keep my steadfast love for him,
and
my covenant with him will stand firm.
I will establish his
line forever,
and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
If his children forsake my law
and
do not walk according to my ordinances,
if they violate my
statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
then I will punish their transgression with
the rod
and
their iniquity with scourges;
but I will not remove
from him my steadfast love,
or be false to my faithfulness.
I will not violate my covenant,
or
alter the word that went forth from my lips.
Once and for all I
have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
His line shall continue forever,
and
his throne endure before me like the sun.
It shall be
established forever like the moon,
an enduring witness in the skies.”
A reading from the Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 2.11-22
So then, remember that at one time you
Gentiles by birth, called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the
circumcision” – a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands –
remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no
hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were
far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in
his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing
wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its
commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity
in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God
in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.
So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who
were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the
saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of
the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him
the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the
Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for
God.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Children’s Message
(from Sermons 4 Kids)
How many of you have taken a vacation? I’ve been on vacation, too.
Sometimes my family and I have a “staycation” where we explore all the fun
things to do in Manitoba. A couple of years ago, we packed up the van and drove
all the way to BC!
We all need to get away sometimes. Even Jesus said that we sometimes
need to take some time off to get caught up on our rest. The Bible tells about
a time the disciples went to Jesus and told Him how busy they had been teaching
and ministering to the needs of people. "There have been so many people
coming and going that we didn’t even have time to stop and eat," they told
Jesus.
"Come with me to a quiet place so that you can get some rest,"
Jesus said to the disciples. So, the Bible tells us that they got in a boat.
And they went away with Jesus to a quiet place.
Yes, we all need a time to get away, even Jesus and His friends needed
to rest! As adults, we often need reminders to slow down, take breaks, and
rest. Usually, it’s our children that give us those reminders!
Dear God, thank You for work, for play, and for school. We also thank
You for those times when we can get away from it all and get some rest. In
Jesus' name, amen.
Gospel Acclamation – Alleluia (page #216)
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark 6.30-34, 53-56
Glory to you, O Lord.
The apostles gathered around Jesus and
told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, “Come away to a
deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.” For many were coming and
going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a
deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and
they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he
went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they
were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came
to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat,
people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to
bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went,
into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and
begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who
touched it were healed.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O
Christ.
Sermon
May only truth be spoken and only truth received. Amen.
Today,
we are going to talk houses.
As
chapter 7 begins, we find David settled in his new palace in his new capital
city. The Lord has given him rest from all his enemies. And so, he’s got time
to think. And he decides that the time has come to build a house suitable for
the Lord to live in.
Remember
that up until now the ark has been kept in a tent, which was fine while the
people of Israel were living in tents, but now that they’re settled in the city,
he thinks it’s time to build a house for the ark to be placed in.
So,
he calls for his spiritual advisor, Nathan the prophet, and says, "What do
you think?" Well, Nathan thinks that sounds like a great idea. After all,
the Lord is with him. So, he’s sure to be right. And what could be better than
to build a house for the Lord.
Nathan
is sure that it’s the right thing to do.
Except
for one thing. It isn’t!
Nathan
has jumped in too soon. He’s made the mistake that many of us make, of assuming
that just because something sounds like a good thing it must be what God wants,
without first asking what God thinks. Nathan hasn’t asked God for an opinion.
He hasn’t prayed about it. He just thinks it’s a good idea.
Nathan
gets a shock when that night the word of the Lord comes to him, to tell him
that no, God doesn’t want David to build him a house. This is the message God
asks Nathan to pass on to David:
"Go
and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a
house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the
people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent
and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel,
did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I
commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me
a house of cedar?"
God
doesn’t want David to build him a house. God has a tabernacle to live in, the
tabernacle that God instructed Moses to build.
I’m
reminded of what we saw last week, when they decided to carry the ark on a cart
rather than on poles and when Uzzah thought that it was his job to protect God.
Now David thinks it’s his job to house God. Never mind that God has already
told them how to house him.
David
has found a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.
David
believes it isn’t right that he should live in a glorious cedar house, a stone
building with expensive cedar panelling imported from Lebanon, while the ark of
the Almighty God resides in a mere tent. A tent just isn’t good enough.
But
God doesn’t want to be tied down to a building.
God
is happy to be able to move around among the people.
God
can not, and should not, be confined to a single place or building.
Knowing
the shifting nature of life and ministry, why would anyone think that it makes
sense to tie God down to one place?
We
cannot build a house big enough to contain the Sovereign of all creation. As
well, in a season where we are all missing the church building, can we not take
comfort in knowing that God is well at home in a tent? Knowing that God meets
us in buildings but is not constrained in them or by them.
God
does not want David to build a house for the Lord.
On
the other hand, God is providing something much more lasting and intangible
than a house made of cedar. God promises David a dynastic lineage that will
become great in the world.
The
New Testament uses this picture of building a house in a number of places.
Jesus makes a direct reference to this prophecy in John 2:19 where he says:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
Jesus
is saying the Temple that Solomon built and that Ezra, Nehemiah and now Herod
have rebuilt, is just a pointer to the real Temple that he will rebuild in his
resurrection body.
God
promises to build a house for David, a house for his name, and it turns out we,
as part of the lineage of David, are that house.
And
if Jesus is Emmanuel, “God with us”, and we are the body of Christ, then we are
the temple that God built.
God
does not ask us to build churches, denominations, or institutions.
These
are just ways that humanity has tried to control and confine God’s transcendence.
And
as we come out of this pandemic, as we being to head into our church buildings
once again, let us remember that God can not, and should not, be confined within
these walls.
While
this is a house of God, it is not God’s house.
We
are God’s house.
And
clearly this body we’re part of is the work of God. Nothing else would have
stood up to the difficulties of the past 2000 years.
We
need to continue to build this house, as we each do our part to build on the
foundation laid for us by the apostles, the foundation of Jesus Christ, who
died and rose again for our salvation.
So
let me leave you with some questions to think about.
How
are you building God’s kingdom here?
What
are you doing to ensure that God’s house continues to grow?
Are
we looking to see who are the people who aren’t here enjoying the benefits of
being part of God’s household?
Are
we thinking about how we might manage to bring them into this living house,
this living temple?
I
pray that our house of God remains a building that does not keep people in or
out, nor does it confine God to a single space. May we remember that the household
of God is built on the foundation of the apostles themselves, with Christ as
the cornerstone.
Amen.
Hymn of the Day – Saviour, Like a
Shepherd Lead Us (ELW #789)
Creed
Let us confess the faith of our baptism, as we
say the Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in
God, the Father 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
Rooted in Christ and sustained by the Spirit, we offer our prayers for
the church, the world, and all of creation.
Silence
Tend your church, O God. Encourage bishops, pastors, and deacons in
their proclamation of the gospel. Raise up new leaders and encourage those
pursuing a call to ministry. Embolden all the baptized to embody your love and
justice.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Restore your creation, O God. Sustain croplands and pastures and
safeguard all farm animals and livestock. Preserve lakes, rivers, and streams
that offer refreshment. Revive lands recovering from natural disasters and
protect coastlands threatened by rising oceans.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Reconcile the nations, O God. Break down the dividing walls that make us
strangers to one another and unite us as one human family. Equip leaders to
deal wisely with conflict and guide diplomats who seek peaceful solutions.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Heal your people, O God. Look with compassion on immigrants, exiles, and
all who are afraid or feel lost. Give rest to those who are weary, comfort to
those who are grieving, and recovery to those who are ill.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Nourish this congregation, O God. Prepare a table where we receive food
for our hungering spirits. Renew our commitment to provide for one another and
revitalize our ministries of feeding and nurturing hungry neighbors.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Please
take time to offer your own intercessions or to pray in silence.
You lead us home, O God. We give thanks for all who have died, now
citizens with the saints. As you have received them into your heavenly home, so
welcome all of us to dwell in your house forever.
Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
We lift these and all our prayers to you, O God, confident in the
promise of your saving love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Peace
The peace of Christ be with you always.
And also with you.
Hymn
of Thanksgiving – Have No Fear Little Flock (ELW #764)
**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.
Thanksgiving for the Word
Let us pray.
O God of justice and love, we give thanks to you that you illumine our
way through life with the words of your Son. Give us the light we need, awaken
us to the needs of others, and at the end bring all the world to your feast;
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 in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our
daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time
of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the
power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
Blessing
May the blessing of the Holy and Undivided
Trinity be with you, in the Name of Love, ☩ the Glory of Love, and the Power of
Love.
Amen.
Sending Song – Lord of All
Hopefulness (ELW #765)
Dismissal
Go in peace. Christ is with you.
Thanks be to God.
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