September 25, 2022
Welcome! We’re so glad you have joined us today! Give us hearts to live into your risky miracles. (Walter Brueggemann) Gathering Announcements Sunday, October 2 7:30 AM Visioning Board Meeting Gathering Song Fairest Lord Jesus Fountainview Academy https://youtu.be/81d84iBhUjg Opening Prayer Faithful God, you have gathered us at this time to worship you. Renew in us the hope and desire to follow you, that we may be inspired to love and honor you in our actions, deeds, and words. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen. Hearing the Word Scripture 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19 (NRSV) Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. Luke 16:19-31 (NRSV) [Jesus said, ] “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Sermon The Meaning of Service I have been watching two news stories over the past couple of weeks that have intrigued me and moved me and challenged me. The first story has been the death and funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. While we all knew that at 96 years of age, her time on this earth was limited, her death caught even her family members by surprise. Just the day before, she had appeared on TV, formally recognizing the new Prime Minister. And then, suddenly she was gone. And there began days of mourning in England and around the world. We grieved for this woman who had given her life to the service of her country. I got up at 5:30 on Monday morning in order to watch the funeral service on TV. I chose BBC America and found their coverage to be respectful and solemn. I was incredibly moved by the many references to her deep faith in Jesus Christ and how that had shaped the way that she lived and worked as Queen. During the funeral at Westminster Cathedral, the Archbishop of Canterbury included in his remarks these words: Her Late Majesty famously declared on a twenty-first birthday broadcast that her whole life would be dedicated to serving the Nation and the Commonwealth. Rarely has such a promise been so well kept! Few leaders receive the outpouring of love that we have seen. Jesus – who in our reading does not tell his disciples how to follow, but who to follow – said: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ Her Late Majesty’s example was not set through her position or her ambition, but through whom she followed. In 1953 the Queen began her Coronation with silent prayer, just there at the High Altar. Her allegiance to God was given before any per-son gave allegiance to her. Her service to so many people in this nation, the Com-monwealth and the world, had its foundation in her following Christ – God himself – who said that he ‘came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving ser-vice are still rarer. But in all cases those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten. Her Late Majesty’s broadcast during COVID lockdown ended with: ‘We will meet again,’ words of hope from a song of Vera Lynn. Christian hope means certain expectation of something not yet seen. Christ rose from the dead and offers life to all, abundant life now and life with God in eternity. We will all face the merciful judgment of God; we can all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death inspired her servant leadership. Service in life, hope in death. All who follow the Queen’s example, and inspiration of trust and faith in God, can with her say: ‘We will meet again.’” I hope that these words gave comfort to the Queen’s family members. I hope that it gave comfort to all of those watching. And I hope that it called people who have no faith to consider the faith of Queen Elizabeth and seek a relationship with Jesus Christ for themselves. Her life was recognized and praised as a life of service, not only to her people and her country, but first and foremost service to her God. The second story that I have followed with great interest was the story about the group of immigrants, nearly fifty of them in all, who were loaded onto an airplane in Texas and flown to Martha’s Vineyard. These immigrants had entered our country illegally. The governor of Florida arranged for them to be transported out of Texas, with the full knowledge and cooperation of the governor of Texas. These poor people were given brochures that made misleading promises about what they could expect when they arrived, in Boston, not in Martha’s Vineyard. The brochures listed many services, including cash, housing assistance, clothing, transportation to job interviews, job training, and assistance in registering children for school. Most immigrants, however, are not eligible for the assistance that was listed. The Florida governor was supposedly trying to call attention to the crisis at the border. The Texas governor had already bused thousands of immigrants to New York and Washington, D.C. as a means of criticizing the President’s immigration policies. They were willing to use people as pawns in their political careers. A Texas sheriff has opened an investigation into the moving of the immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. He said that the people were lured under false premises into agreeing to go to Martha’s Vineyard. A recruiter named Perla told them they were going to Boston and would be given three months’ work and free housing. She also provided them with food. But the sheriff said that the immigrants, asylum-seekers from Venezuela, were taken to Martha’s Vineyard “for little more than a photo op or a video op, and they were unceremoniously stranded...” Domingo Garcia, President of the League of United Latin American Citizens, said, “It’s one of the most cruel political stunts I’ve seen in my lifetime.” A Massachusetts State Representative, Dylan Fernan-des, commented, “It is an incredibly inhumane and depraved thing to do.” But the people of Martha’s Vineyard stepped up to meet the challenge with hospitality and mercy. The immigrants were taken to a church shelter, while local authorities and nonprofit organizations tried to figure out what would happen next. They provided food, beds, clothing, blankets and sheets. Spanish-speaking high school students came and acted as interpreters. Even though local officials had no warning that the Venezuelans were coming, the community mobilized to support them and the Venezuelans said they felt welcomed. While the elected officials of Florida and Texas leave a lot to be desired in terms of serving those in need, the people of Martha’s Vineyard certainly modeled service to others, servant leadership. In both the Old and New Testaments, those who believe in God are told to care for the aliens in their midst, to care for the poor and the strangers, to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and care for the needs of those who are sick or in prison. As Jesus said, what we do for the least of one of our fellow human beings, we do for him. And what we fail to do for one of the least of these, we fail to do for him. The scripture passages I read a few moments ago speak to the issue of service and servanthood. Paul’s word to Timothy included the admonition that those who are rich should not be haughty or arrogant, but should do good and be rich in good works. They should be generous and ready to share. Because, he reminded them, we brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it when we leave. But if they live a life of serving others and doing good, they will take hold of the life that really is life. That is how Queen Elizabeth II lived her life, it seems to me. She began serving others during World War II, when she worked as a mechanic in the army. And she continued to serve when she abruptly became Queen after the death of her father. She served with an attitude of grace and humility, never arrogance, and she put the needs of the people ahead of her own wishes or desires. When Princess Diana was killed, the Queen was at first criticized for her lack of response to the mourning of the people. That was most likely because she was told to follow what was protocol. But when she realized the depth of the feeling of the people, and in support of her grieving grandsons, she soon stepped out into the public and participated in the funeral for Diana. And the Queen showed that she was willing to abide by the same COVID protocols as the rest of the country was observing last year when her husband died. She sat alone – socially distanced and wearing a mask – in the church for the funeral of Prince Philip. That is also how the citizens of Martha’s Vineyard were living their lives when they responded with compassion to the Venezuelan immigrants who were flown there with-out warning. They saw that these people had no idea where they were, or why they were there, and that they had been duped into agreeing to go there. And they step-ped up with supplying the immediate needs of these strangers in their midst. The parable that Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus is a word of caution to all of us. While it would seem that the rich man had everything – fine clothing, an abundance of food, a gated house – in the story he is not even given a name. To Jesus, this man was not significant enough to have a name. And when the rich man died, he found himself in Hades in agony. And the reason for his suffering? The rich man failed to help Lazarus – or anyone else – while he was living. Lazarus was not unknown to the rich man; he passed by him every day as he went in and out of the gate to his property. The rich man would have been aware of Lazarus’ miserable condition; he had nothing – no food, ragged clothing, and sores that were licked by dogs. But when he died, Lazarus found himself carried away by angels to be with Abraham in a place of comfort. The rich man could see Lazarus there, and he began a conversation with him to try and get help in his own miserable condition. He begged Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water to sooth his thirst because he was in agony in the flames. This conversation reveals a lot about the rich man. According to Nancy Lynn Westfield, professor at Drew University Theological School, the rich man “still feels entitled to ask for ser-vice, care, and consideration from those of the lower class. Even in Hades, the rich man wants the labor of the poor to support his family … The rich man believes he, even from Hades, has more privilege than Lazarus, in heaven. The arrogance is astounding...” Helen Mongomery Debevoise, Co-Pastor of Park Lake Presbyterian Church in Orlando, writes that this parable is not difficulty to understand, but it is difficult to hear. The reason for that is we are being led to consider ourselves in the place of the rich man. And, as Westfield says, “[This] is a tale of caution and foreboding to those with wealth, societal privilege, and affluence. Equally, it is a tale of comfort for those who have been forsaken by their neighbors.” She adds, “God is on the side of the oppressed, poor, marginalized, and downtrodden. God judges those with means, wealth, privilege, and societal status who ignore the poor …" And she concludes, “The parable teaches that divine judgment is concerned with our use of resources, wealth, and finances in this life, as these have consequences for the next life. Our task is to use wealth for ministry – for relieving suffering and edifying the marginalized.” The problem of illegal immigration is complex and cannot be easily solved. Thou-sands of people will continue to come to our border, out of desperation, fear, and hope for a better, safer life in the United States. Many of them are seeking asylum from violent enemies back home. Others are refugees who are fleeing poverty and oppression in their own countries. They are men and women, old people and child-ren, daring to hope for something better than what they left behind. Perhaps this is their last chance to survive. Will we tolerate elected officials using people as pawns in their political posturing? Will we show compassion to those who arrive on our doorstep, in need of food, clothing, and hope? How will we live our lives – will we be servants of others, or will we cling to our own security and remain distanced from those in need? It matters what kind of life we live. I would hope and pray that we all can get to the end of our lives and have a minister say over us, as the Archbishop said over the Queen, “The grief of this day – arises from her abundant life and loving service, now gone from us. She was joyful, present to so many, touching a multitude of lives.” Song Take My Life, and Let It Be Chris Tomlin https://youtu.be/kA9zA7O6bH0 Praying Together Concerns and Celebrations: Please share any concerns or celebrations you may have with Pastor Elisabeth. Please note if you do not want this shared with this faith community. Prayers of Intercession God is always gracious and merciful. As we enter into this time of intercessory prayer, may we be confident that God hears us. Let us pray. We pray for an end to conflict in the world. Let us be a sign of your peace and reconciliation among all people. We pray for those who are suffering. May your Holy Spirit bring healing to their bodies, minds, and souls. We pray for our elected leaders. Give them the wisdom to discern your direction, that all people may benefit. We pray for those who are lonely. Assure them they are never alone, for you have promised to always be with us. We pray for this community. Let the Holy Spirit lead and guide us to be inclusive and to work for the betterment of all people. O Lord, hear all of our prayers. Guide and strengthen us to trust in you, so that we may rejoice in your presence this day and forevermore. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught his disciples to pray: The Lord’s Prayer 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. Responding Offertory: You may send your offerings to Grantham United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 152, Grantham, NH, 03753. Doxology UMH #95 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise God, all creatures here below! Praise God above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. Prayer of Dedication Generous God, help us to be as generous with others as you are with us. Bless these gifts, that they may enable acts of generous love for others. May we be generous givers of our time, talent, treasure, and service, that others might find in us generous and loving friends. In gratitude and joy, we pray. Amen. Song Jesus Calls Us Episcopal Church of the Advocate, Chapel Hill, NC https://youtu.be/yByYDzThrSI Benediction May we be rich in doing good: attending to the poor and caring for those in need. May we be generous with our lives: giving treasure and time to make this world a better place. May we take hold of that life which is true life: the goodness of God flowing in and through us. Amen.
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September 18, 2022
Welcome! We’re so glad you have joined us today! Give us hearts to live into your risky miracles. (Walter Brueggemann) Gathering Announcements Tuesday, 6:30 PM Food Pantry Meeting Gathering Song O How I Love Jesus Reba McIntire https://youtu.be/NShctvNERJk Opening Prayer O God of our salvation, we gather together to pray, to intercede, to sing our thanksgivings and our sorrows. Bring your compassion to each of us, that we may be restored and renewed, encouraged and enlivened, as we turn our faces toward you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Hearing the Word Scripture 1 Timothy 2:1-3 (The Message) The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live. Sermon The First Thing to Do is Pray During the pandemic, many things changed. Some changed for the better. Some changed for the worse. Some changes are still being evaluated as to whether they were good or bad. Some of the changes were temporary; others may be more permanent. But hardly any area of our lives was not impacted in some way by the COVID pandemic. Certainly the last 2-1/2 years have seen changes in how we do church. When we were unable to meet in person, we learned some skills in order to have Zoom services, or at least post worship materials on our web pages. We have been able to gather for worship for a while, and then had to enter another stage of virtual church. It looks like we are finally going to be able to count on in-person worship for the long-term, and I don’t know about you, but that makes me very happy! It is so good to be present with one another, and not just looking at little squares on a screen! On the one hand, it was disheartening during the quarantine to realize that church was considered non-essential. People could still go to the liquor stores, which were deemed essential. But they could not gather as congregations indoors for worship. On the other hand, people found other ways to do and be the church. We found ways to stay connected to each other and to our communities. And one area in which I believe we all participated was in lifting prayers to God for ourselves and others. We knew that we needed divine assistance to find our way through this terrifying, frustrating, lonely experience. We prayed for our loved ones who caught COVID. We prayed for the economic realities that some people faced as millions of people lost their jobs. We prayed for all those who were lonely, grieving, or depressed. And we prayed for healthcare professionals and first responders, educators and students. Prayer all of a sudden became not just a mere formality or a routine; it was a priority and a lifeline. We knew how much we needed to communicate with God. In his book, The Post-Quarantine Church, Thom Rainer introduces us to a woman named Maureen, who described what happened when her fellowship group at church began to pray for their church and to share their prayer concerns with each other. They even formed a Facebook group, which really began to grow. Maureen said, “The Facebook group was the vehicle to get us praying for our community. It was pretty basic. When people saw we were praying, they asked us to pray for them. We prayed for a lot of people … Somehow, the mayor found out about our prayer ministry … When she came to our Facebook page, requested prayer for different needs in the community, the response was awesome. It was like our church became the prayer arm of the town. More and more people joined our Facebook page and either requested prayer or prayed for others.” We shouldn’t be surprised at the fact that prayer is such an essential part of our lives. Prayer connects us with God, with each other, and with the world. And people may be praying even if they are not aware of it. Frederick Buechner writes in his book, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, “Everybody prays whether [they think] of it as praying or not. The odd silence you fell into when something very beautiful happens or something very good or very bad. The ah-h-h! that sometimes floats up out of you as out of a Fourth of July crowd when the sky-rocket bursts over the water. The stammer of pain at somebody else’s pain. The stammer of joy at somebody else’s joy. Whatever words or sounds you use for sighing with over your own life. These are all prayers in their way. These are all spoken not just to yourself but to something even more familiar than yourself …” That something – that someone – is God. Marcus Borg states that “prayer is primarily about paying attention to God.” And Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor and theologian, says, “It matters little what forms of prayer we adopt or how many words we use, what matters is the faith which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to him.” Prayer is a means of intimacy with God, a way to share our lives with God and to listen as God shares with us. God is interested in the details of our lives, God cares about the things and people that matter to us. And as we pray, we develop a deep relationship with the Creator. Prayer is a priority – or at least it should be – for all of us. As Paul wrote to the young pastor Timothy, the first thing we are to do is pray. Why is this a top priority? For one thing, prayer is a practice that was modeled for us by Jesus. Jesus prayed often. Jesus prayed both in public and in private. Jesus prayed at every key moment in his life. Even when he was in agony on the cross, Jesus prayed. And the words he prayed, “Father, into thy hand I commit my spirit,” were probably the words of the first prayer he ever prayed. William Barclay said, “That was the first prayer which every Jewish mother taught her child to say, when he lay down to sleep at night …” Secondly, prayer is a priority because the early church viewed prayer as a basic necessity for the community. We are reminded of this in the early chapters of the book of Acts. After Jesus had been raised from the dead and ascended into heaven, the believers gathered in Jerusalem waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit. The scripture says that they all met together and were constantly in prayer. Clearly, prayer was important to them. In Acts 2:42, after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to all the believers, it says that they devoted themselves to prayer. Paul told Timothy to “pray every way you know how.” There are different ways to pray. We pray in private and we pray in public, in church. We pray in silence, or we pray with words spoken either aloud or to oneself. We pray using the words of others, such as through Psalms or poems or prayers written by other people. Or we pray our own words, spoken with heartfelt emotion. And, as Paul mentioned in Romans, sometimes we don’t know how to pray, and so the Holy Spirit prays for us with groans too deep for words. It doesn’t matter how we pray; it just matters that we pray. Second, Paul said that we should “pray for everyone you know.” Intercessory prayer is almost always a part of our Sunday worship services. And we share our prayer concerns with each other in other settings, as well. We pray for our loved ones and our friends. We pray for events taking place in the world, like floods or wildfires or war. And we are also to pray for our enemies, according to Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, as recorded in Matthew 5. This is perhaps the hardest prayer to pray. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “This is the supreme demand. Through the medium of prayer we go to our enemy, stand by his side, and plead for him to God. Jesus does not promise that when we bless our enemies and do good to them they will not despitefully use and persecute us. They certainly will. But not even that can hurt or overcome us, so long as we pray for them. For if we pray for them, we are taking their distress and poverty, their guilt and perdition, upon ourselves, and pleading to God for them. We are doing vicariously for them what they cannot do for themselves. Every insult they utter only serves to bind us more closely to God and them. Their persecution of us only serves to bring them nearer to reconciliation with God and to further the triumphs of love.” And finally, Paul told Timothy that he should “pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well.” That was so the church could go on about its business and avoiding any conflict with governing authorities. While Christians in the Roman Empire often had to pray for protection and safety from attacks and persecutions of the government, they still were instructed to pray for those who governed them. It is not necessary to agree with those governing with you on any issue or platform; but it is required that we pray for them anyway. I wonder how many of us pray for those who govern us? I know that I sometimes pray about them, or about their views, hoping that God will change them to be aligned with my beliefs and views. But do I really pray for them? What difference might it make in America if every Christian prayed for those who are in elected government positions, for those who are supposed to be our leaders? Would it change the way they do their jobs? Would it change the way we see them? One last word. I am often asked by people to explain the reason why prayers have not been answered, or at least in the way that they wanted or expected them to be answered. I am not always exactly sure now to answer them. But I do like what Frederick Buechner had to say about it. He wrote that “the God you call upon will finally come, and even if he does not bring you the answer you want, he will bring you himself. And maybe at the secret heart of all our prayer that is what we are truly praying for.” Song What a Friend We Have in Jesus Don Moen https://youtu.be/YTpUQO0aryw Praying Together Concerns and Celebrations: Please share any concerns or celebrations you may have with Pastor Elisabeth. Please note if you do not want this shared with this faith community. Prayers of Intercession O God, we pray for our nation. May you bring peace, justice, and love so that we may care for our neighbors and have compassion for one another. We pray for those who have lost loved ones. Let your Holy Spirit comfort and assure them that nothing, not even death, can separate us from your love. We pray for those who are homeless and outcasts. Provide guidance and protection to those who have nowhere to go and nobody to turn to in their distress. We pray for those who are sick. Give assurance of your healing mercies as they recover from illnesses and medical procedures. May we be assured in our prayers that you hear us, O Lord, and may we be confident that you will answer our prayers in due time. We ask this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray: The Lord’s Prayer 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. Responding Offertory: You may send your offerings to Grantham United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 152, Grantham, NH, 03753. Doxology UMH #95 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise God, all creatures here below! Praise God above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. Prayer of Dedication Source of every good gift, you call us to be wise with the true riches of your kingdom. We offer you these gifts in gratitude for your love, that they may bring healing and light to those in need of your balm of Gilead. Amen. Song Sweet Hour of Prayer Radiance Acapella https://youtu.be/Ph43J3pnBDo Benediction Brothers and sisters, don’t wait until all else fails to pray. Instead, let prayer be the first thing you do, in good times and in hard times, for yourselves and for others. Know that the God who hears our prayers will surely answer them. And may the love of God, the peace of Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen. September 11, 2022
Welcome! We’re so glad you have joined us today! Give us hearts to live into your risky miracles. (Walter Brueggemann) Gathering Announcements Sunday, September 18 10:30 AM All-Church worship with Lake Sunapee UMC and Grantham At the gazebo in Sunapee Harbor Bring a chair and picnic lunch. Monday, September 19 6:30 PM SPRC at Sunapee Saturday, September 24 9:00 – 3:00 Newport Church Vendor Fair Sunday, October 30 4:00 PM SPRC meet with D.S. (Zoom) 5:00 PM Church Conference (Zoom) Gathering Song How Firm a Foundation Fernando Ortega https://youtu.be/Prb4C_PEwWM Opening Prayer Almighty God, in your keeping there is shelter from the storm, and in your mercy there is comfort for the sorrows of life. Hear now our prayer for those who mourn and are heavy laden; for those who have suffered the loss of loved ones; and for all who have died in the conflict with terrorism. Give to them strength for this time of grieving. Lighten their darkness with your love. Enable them to see beyond the things of this mortal world the promise of the eternal. Help them to know that your care enfolds all your people, that you are our refuge and strength, and that underneath are your everlasting arms. Amen. Hearing the Word Scripture Psalm 103:1-18 (NRSV) Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits – who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The Lord works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him. For he knows how we are made; he remembers that we are dust. As for mortals, their days are like grass; they flourish like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more. But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments. Sermon The Importance of Remembering Ever since Queen Elizabeth passed away on Thursday, we have been remembering her 70-year reign, along with the rest of the world. The people of Great Britain are mourning the loss of this remarkable woman, who began her leadership and ser-vice as a young woman during World War II, ascended to the throne through incredible circumstances, and led her country through the Cold War, years of peace and prosperity, and years of troubles and turmoil. With Prince Philip by her side for 73 years, she demonstrated strength in the midst of crisis and almost always seemed to do exactly the right thing. We saw her sense of humor most recently displayed in her “tea party” with Paddington Bear during the Jubilee. And we know that she will be missed especially by her family members. Remembering is important. Remembering people, remembering events, remembering personal growth and triumph, as well as personal faults and failures. We remember significant moments in our lives and in the lives of others. We think back on relationships and how they shaped our existence. We commemorate special occasions, like anniversaries and births. We set aside days as holy days and holidays in order to remember their importance and meaning. And we remember, at least partly, so that we can learn from the past and try to create a better future. The call to remember comes often in the Bible. There are many occasions on which the people of Israel are admonished to “remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord God brought you out of there …” (Deuteronomy 5:15). When the time came for them to be set free from the Egyptians, and God’s last plague came on the land, the death of the firstborn, God spared the Hebrews from this fate by having them mark their doors with lamb’s blood, so that he passed over their houses. The Passover was something that they were told to remember always. God told the people, “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord – a lasting ordinance … Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought [you] out of Egypt … When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” One of the central Christian observances is based on remembering: it is the sacrament of Communion, when we are to remember the Passover meal that Jesus shared with his disciples on the night before he was put to death. During that meal, Jesus instructed them to remember him when they shared the bread and cup again. “The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is [given] for you; do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.’” Remembering is at the core of who we are as the children of God and followers of Jesus Christ. Remembering helps remind us of who we are, and of whose we are. It helps us to be aware of all that God has done for us. Memories anchor us to our history and our heritage, and in sharing the importance of our faith with our children and grandchildren, we are giving them what they will remember in developing a faith of their own. Most of us are part of a church because our parents or grandparents brought us to church as children. Many of my earliest memories are of events or experiences that took place in church, and they are good memories. And those good memories have only increased in number and significance over the course of my life. Today, we are invited to remember the events of September 11, 2001. The things I saw and heard and felt on that day – and the days following – are things that I could never forget. The planes flying into the buildings. The people leaping to their deaths from the top of the towers. The Twin Towers crumbling to the ground in a matter of seconds, killing thousands of people, including many first responders who ran into the buildings when everyone else was running out. The sight of the plane crash in Pennsylvania. The Pentagon with a hole torn in its side. The face of the President when he was given the news of what had happened. The days of searching through the rubble for survivors, or for bodies. The papers posted on fences near Ground Zero with the faces of the missing, families hoping desperately to find their loved ones alive. When we remember, we honor those who gave their lives to save others on that beautiful autumn day. We give respect to those innocent people who died because they happened to work in certain locations in the Towers or Pentagon, or who happened to board a particular plane on a particular day. We acknowledge that there are people – perhaps many people – around the world who hate America enough to plot such a horrible attack. We are grateful for the outpouring of support that came from so many nations and leaders around the globe. And we are prodded to continue to discern ways to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. I will never forget where I was or what I was doing when I heard about the at-tacks. I immediately turned on my TV, and it hardly got turned off for the better part of a week. I watched in horror and shock, unable to turn away from the images on the screen. And then I watched with diminishing hope that anyone would be found in the ashes and dust that used to be skyscrapers filled with offices and workers. My congregation quickly decided to open the church for a prayer service on the evening of September 11th. I was serving a small parish in a small town in South Carolina. And yet, even there I found that one of my members had a connection who worked in one of the Twin Towers. The events of that day touched every American in some way. And our memories of it continue to shape who we are and how we connect with the world. I hope that in remembering, we don’t get stuck in the grief, anger, or desire for revenge that consumed some of us for so long. Instead, I hope that our remembering will be a way of choosing to remember instead the way that our country seemed to come together as one in the days following the attack. For at least a little while, partisan politics took a backseat to honest patriotism and a national time for mourning. In some ways, we expressed our best selves for some time after 9/11. I hope and pray that, in these troubled times we live in now, we will find some way to once again live our best lives together, with partisan politics taking a back seat to creative cooperation in solving the big problems that face our nation. Litany of Remembrance We gather twenty-one years after the day when politics, religion, and culture clashed in a tragic way. On this anniversary day, we gather to remember the events of September 11, 2001. Let us not forget that we are God’s people journeying toward God’s kingdom. On this day, violence created chaos, destroyed lives, and generated fear. We remember the suffering born in pain. We remember the media images of frightening scenes and of human terror that are forever burned into our consciousness. We remember with confidence born of faith that this is not God’s way. On this day, lives were lost, peace was shattered, and hope was endangered. We remember the cries of the people caught amid fire and dust, the families whose loved ones never returned home after that day, the shared mourning of a frightened nation. We remember the day when the skies were no longer peaceful, but rather threatened with a vision of fear. We remember with confidence that hope is still God’s way. On this day, strangers became friends, and ordinary people became heroic. We remember courageous men and women who worked tirelessly to save lives, seek the lost, and heal the wounded. On this day, we pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. We remember that God’s kingdom is where the last are first, the lost are found, and the weak are made strong. We remember that we are required to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God. We remember that we are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. On this day, we work for the kingdom of God on earth. We remember that love comes from the very heart of God, embracing all humanity. We remember that true power is born of humility, obedience, and justice. We remember that God’s grace is a gift that gives life to the world. We remember and journey together to build God’s kingdom. Song It is Well With My Soul Audrey Assad https://youtu.be/zY5o9mP22V0 Praying Together Concerns and Celebrations: Please share any concerns or celebrations you may have with Pastor Elisabeth. Please note if you do not want this shared with this faith community. Pastoral Prayer God of history and remembrance, we remember, we remember. We remember when the towers fell and the lives were lost; we remember the dust and the smoke, the despair, and the grief. We remember that sense of vulnerability and shock. We remember the numbness that overwhelmed us as we watched our screens for hours and hours, waiting for an explanation and understanding that never came. We remember. God of hope and presence, we remember, we remember. We remember the heroes, those who rushed to help, who guided the wounded down innumerable flights of stairs, who rose to overwhelm those who held death in their hands. We remember the hours and the days of binding wounds and healing hurts, giving comfort, drying tears. We remember words of support and compassion from nations far and wide. We remember. We remember in part because we see the ripples of that tragic day continue to impact our world twenty-one years later. We grieve with allies today as our allies grieved with us twenty-one years ago. And together we wonder if there will ever be an end … to violence, to war, to hatred, to death. We remember and we grieve our world’s inability to learn the things that lead to peace. We call to you now in our remembrance, God of justice and peace. Give us a will to truly pray that your kingdom may come on earth as it is in heaven. On this day of solemn remembrance, may we honor the lives that were lost in this tragic act; may we give thanks for those who served and saved, rendered aid and assistance. May we give comfort to those who live with loss. May we seek justice and peace where it is within our ability, and rely on you when the ability escapes us. On this day of solemn remembrance, may we build what has been torn down, may we mend what has been broken, may your love live when hate seems to reign, and may we bear witness to the cause of peace. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who taught his disciples to pray: The Lord’s Prayer 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. Responding Offertory: You may send your offerings to Grantham United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 152, Grantham, NH, 03753. Doxology UMH #95 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise God, all creatures here below! Praise God above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. Song Let There Be Peace on Earth Voices of Hope Children’s Choir https://youtu.be/bgL1v8FZaNM Benediction May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God, and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The blessing of God Almighty, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be among you and remain with you always. Amen. September 4, 2022
Welcome! We’re so glad you have joined us today! Give us hearts to live into your risky miracles. (Walter Brueggemann) Gathering Announcements Thursday, 6:30 PM Food Pantry Meeting Gathering Song We Are Called St. Paul Young Adult Choir and Ensemble https://youtu.be/TsQ_kANdM6U Opening Prayer O great Potter, maker of hearts, you shape the vessels of love. Come and speak to us, change our ways, and turn our lives to you. Work on your wheel to turn your clay and model us, until we become who you want us to be. In your holy name we pray. Amen. Hearing the Word Scripture Jeremiah 18:1-11 (New Living Translation) The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the shop where clay pots and jars are made. I will speak to you while you are there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so the potter squashed the jar into a lump of clay and started again. Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand. If I announce that a certain nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, but then that nation renounces its evil ways, I will not destroy it as I had planned. And if I announce that I will build up and plant a certain nation or kingdom, making it strong and great, but then that nation turns to evil and refuses to obey me, I will not bless that nation as I had said I would. “Therefore, Jeremiah, go and warn all Judah and Jerusalem. Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am planning disaster against you instead of good. So turn from your evil ways, each of you, and do what is right.’” Sermon The Untied Methodist Church THE UNTIED METHODIST CHURCH Jeremiah 18:1-11 (NLT) A few years back I had a series of abdominal surgeries that kept me at home a good bit of the time. I had a desk set up in the sunroom and worked from there most of the week. As I recovered from the various procedures, my energy level wasn’t what it usually was, and I got off to a slow start in the mornings. I got into the habit of watching the Today Show before my shower. I really enjoyed the fourth hour with Hoda and Kathy Lee, or later on Hoda and Jenna. And my favorite segment that they often includ-ed was the Ambush Makeover. Someone would be chosen from the crowd outside on the Plaza, and that person would be brought in and given a complete makeover. The transformation was incredible! They often didn’t even look like the same people when it was all said and done. They got new hairstyles, clothes, shoes and makeup. Their friends or family members would come out on stage when the person was introduced, and the expressions on their faces showed just how incredible the difference in their appearance was. And the persons who underwent the total makeover weren’t allowed to see themselves in the mirror until they were onstage and on camera, and it was so much fun to see their surprise and satisfaction with the results. The story in Jeremiah 18 is a story about a total makeover. Jeremiah was a pro-phet of God who lived during the time of the Babylonian conquest, which would even-tually lead to the destruction of the Temple and the royal palace in Jerusalem, and the death or exile of thousands of people. Jeremiah is often called “the weeping prophet,” because he felt so much pain over the suffering of his people. He didn’t like the mes-sages that God gave him to deliver to the people, because they were most often mes-sages of judgment for the evil that the people had done and predictions of punishment that was coming their way. One day God sent Jeremiah to the shop of a potter and told him to watch what the potter was doing. The potter had a pot on the wheel, but it was not turning out the way the potter wanted it to. Maybe it was uneven on one side, or the proportions were not what he had pictured. In any case, the potter decided to just start over, so he squashed pot into a lump of clay and began all over again. In this case, a simple tweak wasn’t going to do it; there was no correcting what had gone wrong. A total makeover was the only thing that was going to work. I can relate to this image in my own life, and maybe you can too. There have been times when I was going along, doing my own thing, ignoring what God wanted me to be and do. I made a mistake, I chose poorly, I got distracted. And God had to get me back on track, and a simple adjustment wasn’t going to take care of the problem. So I had to get a total makeover, a complete transformation. But this message in Jeremiah isn’t really about transforming individuals; it is about transforming an entire community. The message wasn’t addressed to a few people; it was addressed to all the people of God. The problem wasn’t so much an individual problem; it was a communal issue. And the makeover had to involve the entire community. Sally A. Brown, a professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, writes that “God means to shape the community of faith in its collective social, religious, and political life to serve divine purposes.” The entire people of Israel had chosen the wrong path, and God had to mold them back into shape as a community. And to do that, he had to smash the clay back into a lump and reshape it. There was coming judgment, but it would be followed by a new creation. I have been concerned for years about the condition of The United Methodist Church. We have been a divided denomination since 1972 over the issue of homo-sexuality. There have been words spoken that were filled with hate, mistrust, judg-mentalism, exclusivism, stereotyping, and an unwillingness to even listen to what the people on the other side of the division had to say. The meetings of General Confe-rence have been focused on this issue, whether or not it was even on the agenda. Lay people, pastors, and even bishops have been arrested for silent, peaceful protests out-side arenas. Many people have been hurt by the horrible things that have been said about GLBTQ persons, and individuals, their parents, friends, and allies have chosen to leave The United Methodist Church to join other, more welcoming, denominations. People have spoken for years – from the floor of the General Conference and in conversations outside the building – about the possibility of a denominational split. In 2016, the last year that General Conference was held, many people were hopeful that a plan would be adopted to allow for more differences in practice and theology across the denomination; but instead, the conservative delegates pushed through a plan that only made the statements in the Discipline even more exclusive and created a more formal method of punishing those who went outside the guidelines of the Discipline, whether a local pastor or a bishop. Many, if not most, of us expected the 2020 General Confe-rence to end up with the denomination deciding to split in some fashion; but, of course, the General Conference was not held due to COVID, and the next one is now set for 2024. And so we wait. Except that some have not waited. The conservatives established a new deno-mination called the Global Methodist Church, which retained the current statements in the Book of Discipline regarding sexuality. Churches in many parts of the country are choosing to disaffiliate from The United Methodist Church to join with this new denomi-nation, or with no denomination. We are now more like the Untied Methodist Church. And more than a denomination is being torn apart. Churches, pastors, friends, families – they are also suffering because of this situation. I have colleagues in Ohio, Okla-homa, Virginia, Arkansas and North Carolina who have told me about the bitter debates going on in congregations about disaffiliation, the people who have been friends for years who no longer speak to one another because of this, and the uncertainty about what their Annual Conferences will look like by this time next year. On one level, I am greatly grieved by the division of the denomination. After all, you would think church people – of all people – could figure out how to live together, even when there are disagreements. I believe strongly in the existence of one Church – an international body of all those who follow Jesus Christ. I have always loved the Preamble to the Constitution of The United Methodist Church, which states: The church is a community of all true believers under the Lordship of Christ. It is the redeemed and redeeming fellowship in which the Word of God is preached by per-sons divinely called, and the sacraments are duly administered according to Christ’s own appointment. Under the discipline of the Holy Spirit the church seeks to provide for the maintenance of worship, the edification of believers, and the redemption of the world. The church of Jesus Christ exists in and for the world, and its very dividedness is a hindrance to its mission in the world. The prayers and intentions of The United Methodist Church … have been and are for obedience to the will of our Lord that his people be one, in humility for the pre-sent brokenness of the Church and in gratitude that opportunities for reunion have been given. I don’t understand how any Methodist could claim to be following the Discipline of our church and still advocate for division. It is a shameful thing that we have gotten to this place, no matter which side of the issue you are on. We have failed to be a faithful church, we have not done what might have been done to preserve the unity of this body of Christ. And yet, I also have hope for the future. It will be a relief to no longer have to fight the same fight at every session of General Conference. It will free us to spend that time in figuring out how to meet the needs of the world around us. Perhaps like the pot-ter at the wheel, God is in the process of creating something new and good and trans-formational. As Sally Brown puts it, “God can raise out of the ruins of a [community] a new faithfulness and a new usefulness. Correction can lead to repentance expressed in action: practicing forgiveness, breaking silence about matters of justice, placing com-passion ahead of self-interest. The divine potter hovers over us, shaping and reshaping us for our high calling as vessels of divine love and justice.” While we must repent of all that led us to this place, we can also claim the grace of God in using us still, as a denomination, as a community of faith, with a new shape that is still emerging. John Debevoise, pastor of Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church in Tampa, Florida, says, “The opportunity to repent, to change, is an opportunity for faith-fulness. It should be a source of pastoral comfort for the people that the changes into which God is calling them are a part of God’s intention and order, standing over and against the chaos and disorder of disaster. The New Testament promise is that ulti-mately God, the potter, will reshape us. It will look not like disaster but like resurrect-ion.” We gather at the table of Christ this morning, along with many Methodists around the country. We all worship the same God; we all serve the same Lord. While we may disagree vehemently about matters of theology or Biblical interpretation, we are still brothers and sisters in Christ. So let us claim the grace that is offered to us through the elements of Holy Communion and look to the future, not with panic or despair, but with hope of new creation. Song Have Thine Own Way Elim Sound https://youtu.be/Xvl3Lm2BKYc Praying Together Concerns and Celebrations: Please share any concerns or celebrations you may have with Pastor Elisabeth. Please note if you do not want this shared with this faith community. Prayers of Intercession O Holy One, in your book were written all the days that were formed for us. You made us, fearfully and wonderfully. We pray for those who are estranged from parents and siblings for being true to who you made them to be. O God, listen to our prayers. We pray for those who have left everything to serve you and your people. O God, listen to our prayers. We pray for those who are persecuted for the sake of your word. O God, listen to our prayers. We pray for your church as we seek to follow you faithfully and carry the cross. O God, listen to our prayers. We pray specifically for The United Methodist Church, and ask forgiveness for all that divides us. O God, listen to our prayers. Listen to us and guide us. All this we ask in Jesus’ name, as we pray the prayer he taught his disciples: The Lord’s Prayer 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. Responding Offertory: You may send your offerings to Grantham United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 152, Grantham, NH, 03753. Doxology UMH #95 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow! Praise God, all creatures here below! Praise God above, ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen. Prayer of Dedication Loving Potter, you are ever mindful of your people. You fashion us into vessels fit for your service, and transform our gifts and offerings into vessels to serve your world well. We offer you our praise and our glory. Amen. Song Amazing Grace Andrea Bocelli and Alison Krauss https://youtu.be/60euxXvw5aA Benediction The One who shaped us in our mother’s wombs loves and shapes us still. God continues to create us anew each and every day. Go with God’s blessings. God is the potter; we are the clay. Amen. |
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