A Place at the Table

Prayer of the Day

Holy God, our righteous judge, daily your mercy surprises us with everlasting forgiveness. Strengthen our hope in you, and grant that all the peoples of the earth may find their glory in you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Joel 2:23-32

 ²³O children of Zion, be glad
  and rejoice in the Lord your God;
 for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
  he has poured down for you abundant rain,
  the early and the later rain, as before.
 ²⁴The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
  the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

 ²⁵I will repay you for the years
  that the swarming locust has eaten,
 the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
  my great army, which I sent against you.

 ²⁶You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
  and praise the name of the Lord your God,
  who has dealt wondrously with you.
 And my people shall never again be put to shame.
 ²⁷You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
  and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.
 And my people shall never again be put to shame.

 ²⁸Then afterward
  I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
 your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
  your old men shall dream dreams,
  and your young men shall see visions.
 ²⁹Even on the male and female slaves,
  in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

 ³⁰I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. ³¹The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. ³²Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lordshall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Psalm 65

 ¹You are to be praised, O ^| God, in Zion;
  to you shall vows ^| be fulfilled.
 ²To you, the one ^| who answers prayer,
  to you all ^| flesh shall come.
 ³Our sins are strong- ^| er than we are,
  but you blot out ^| our transgressions.
 ⁴Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your ^| courts to dwell there!
  They will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the holiness ^| of your temple. 
 ⁵Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of ^| our salvation,
  O hope of all the ends of the earth and of the oceans ^| far away.
 ⁶You make firm the mountains ^| by your power;
  you are girded a- ^| bout with might.
 ⁷You still the roaring ^| of the seas,
  the roaring of their waves, and the clamor ^| of the peoples.
 ⁸Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your ^| marvelous signs;
  you make the dawn and the dusk to ^| sing for joy. 
 ⁹You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous; the river of God is ^| full of water.
  You prepare the grain, for so you provide ^| for the earth.
 ¹⁰You drench the furrows and smooth ^| out the ridges;
  with heavy rain you soften the ground and ^| bless its increase.
 ¹¹You crown the year ^| with your goodness,
  and your paths over- ^| flow with plenty.
 ¹²May the fields of the wilderness be ^| rich for grazing,
  and the hills be ^| clothed with joy.
 ¹³May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak them- ^| selves with grain;
  let them shout for ^| joy and sing. 

2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

⁶As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

 ¹⁶At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! ¹⁷But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. ¹⁸The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18:9-14

⁹[Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt:¹⁰“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ¹²I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ ¹³But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

The Apostle Paul wrote that the gospel is a stumbling block. One theologian added that the danger is stumbling over the wrong thing. There is something similar going on in today’s parable from Luke’s gospel.

It is difficult to avoid interpreting the parable in simplistic terms. We too easily judge the Pharisee to be a self-righteous hypocrite. Most significant, we assume that this is a parable about morality, and we assume that the moral of the story is to be humble. 

We might as well end up praying, “Lord, we thank you that we are not like other people: hypocrites, overly pious, self-righteous people, or even like this Pharisee. We have learned that we should always be humble.” 

How can we avoid this kind of reading of the parable? It might help first to note that everything the Pharisee says is true. He has set himself apart from others by his faithful adherence to the law. That’s not really so bad. So much of what he lists is good. He has lived a righteous life. But that’s not how the story ends.

After the two prayers Jesus says, “I tell you this man [the tax collector] went to his house justified rather than the other for all who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.” It sounds like Jesus is advocating for humility pretty strongly, but what does that mean exactly? 

The Pharisee’s problem is not that he is showing off. It is what he truly believes in his heart—that his stack of good deeds is enough to save the world. And he believes it is enough if only everyone else would do what he does. 

What God says in and through Jesus is that human goodness is never good enough to make us right with God. Human goodness cannot reconcile the world. Basically, if the world could have been reconciled by good advice from God, the world’s problems would have been solved just after Moses made it down Mount Sinai with the 10 Commandments. 

The law, the commandments, are efforts at morality, humility, spirituality, and above all, are efforts at religion. They have value, no doubt about that. They help us live in community with one another and they can help societies flourish for all. But they don’t help us be justified by God. So, God does not risk trying to save the world by human good behavior. God says that the tax collector, who simply looks at his shoes and says, “I’m no good” is justified. Now why is that?

It is no accident that this exchange takes place at the Temple. On the grounds of the Temple, people were intimately aware of who they were. They were aware of what status they had, of what they could expect from God. At the Temple there were insiders and outsiders. According to these rules there was no question of where the Pharisee and tax collector stood. 

But when Jesus dies, all this changes. As the gospels report, the curtain in the Temple is torn in two at Jesus’ death. This symbolically erases all divisions of humanity before God. This might be pushing our interpretation, but perhaps that act is foreshadowed in our parable today. Jesus proclaims justification not for the one favored by Temple law, but the one standing outside the Temple gate, and aware only of his utter need.

This is what makes parables so tricky. As soon as we give into the temptation to divide humanity into any kind of groups, we have aligned ourselves with the Pharisee. Whether our division is between unrighteous and sinners, or even between the self-righteous and the humble, we are doomed. Anytime you draw a line between who is in and who is out, you will find God on the other side. 

Read this way, the parable reveals that it is not about self-righteousness and humility any more than it is about a pious Pharisee and a desperate tax collector. Instead, this parable, is about God: God who alone can judge the human heart; God who determines to justify the ungodly. 

At the end of the parable, the Pharisee will leave the Temple and return to his home righteous. This has not changed. He was righteous when he came up and righteous as he goes back down. The tax collector, however, will leave the Temple and go back down to his home justified, that is, accounted righteous by God. How has this happened?

The tax collector makes neither sacrifice nor restitution. On what basis is he accounted righteous? On the basis of God’s divine rule! We find ourselves, yet again, with nothing to claim but our dependence on God’s mercy. When this happens and we forget if only for a moment, our human-constructed divisions, and stand before God aware only of our need, then we, also, are justified by the God of Jesus. We too are invited to return to our homes in mercy, grace, and gratitude. 

It’s parables like this one that at the end of the day I absolutely love. There is a lot that I preach from the pulpit that people who are not people of faith would agree with—how we might love our neighbor, reminding us of those who live on the margins, care for the natural world, what it looks like to live in community. For me, I’m always preaching with the lens of my Christian faith. 

But today’s parable is about the lens itself and really nothing else. It is about a God whose abundant love is almost offensive to humans because it is so vast. We are reminded that we worship a God not only of second chances, but third and fourth and fifth, and seventy times seven chances. We might love this holy one but we do not always like this God’s method of operation. If you’re like me, you don’t like God’s methods until you have done something so awful or you have left something undone which you so regret, then you pray, “God be merciful to me, a sinner” and God hears your prayer and welcomes you home.

One of my favorite commentators wrote that what Jesus is saying in this parable is “that as far as the Pharisee’s ability to win a game of justification with God is concerned, he is no better off than the publican. As a matter of fact, the Pharisee is worse off; because while they are both losers, the tax collector at least has the sense to recognize the fact and trust God’s offer of a free drink. The point of the parable is that they are both dead, and their only hope is someone who can raise the dead.” (Capon)

On Saturday I went to the cluster event at Hope Lutheran and listened as a colleague described reading a book and feeling immense guilt that they are not doing enough about this issue. It reminded me of my new bedtime meditation, a sort of examine of the day that is ending. The application asks me to remember when I clearly encountered God. There is time for confession—for sins of commission or omission. It does not matter the day, every day, even my best days, there is something to confess. Words of scripture, different passages each evening, are woven throughout the devotion. But every night, the same words end the prayer: “God of all seasons, the sun has set, the night has gathered in, my soul sinks slowly into Your rest, trusting now in the resurrection to come.” 

With those words, I’m reminded that in the waters of Holy Baptism I have already drowned with Christ and been given new life. The new life was not mine to give or earn; it could only be received from God alone through Jesus Christ. 

There is so much good that congregations can and are doing in this new chapter of life. Scripture, our source for so much, grounds us and hopefully drives us to be leaders in reconciliation, participants in caring for the natural world, and protecting human dignity, to name some big ones. For me and for you, all of that good work stems from the love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ. You are justified by God’s grace alone, nothing else. It is not up to you; thanks be to God. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection you are justified and made alive each day. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession

In gratitude and humility, let us join together in prayer on behalf of all of God’s creation.

A brief silence.

God of mercy, you are in the midst of us and we are called by your name. Inspire your church to serve and love all people with the unceasing grace you extend to us. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

God of all creation, you formed a world where even the sparrow finds a home. Preserve the beauty and diversity of all creatures with whom we share the earth. Lead us to protect all living things. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

God of peace, you are an ever-present help in time of trouble. Rescue families and nations torn apart by violence and warfare (especially). Unite all people toward common goals of reconciliation and peace for every person. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

God of hope, you stand with the suffering and give strength. Comfort your people filled with fear or anger, anxiety or shame. Bring healing to all who are sick in body, mind, or spirit (especially). Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

God of restoration, you call us to trust in you and not ourselves alone. Make this congregation a community of humility and repentance, ready to encounter you in love and follow in your ways. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

God of eternal life, to you be the glory forever. We give you thanks for (James of Jerusalem and) all who have fought the good fight, finished the race, kept the faith, and now live with you. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

With grateful hearts we commend our spoken and silent prayers to you, O God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

O Lord God, tireless guardian of your people, you are always ready to hear our cries. Teach us to rely day and night on your care. Inspire us to seek your enduring justice for all this suffering world, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Jeremiah 31:27-34

²⁷The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. ²⁸And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. ²⁹In those days they shall no longer say: 
 “The parents have eaten sour grapes,
  and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
³⁰But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

 ³¹The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ³²It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ³⁴No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 119:97-104

 ⁹⁷Oh, how I ^| love your teaching!
  All the day long it is ^| in my mind.
 ⁹⁸Your commandment has made me wiser ^| than my enemies,
  for it is ^| always with me.
 ⁹⁹I have more understanding than ^| all my teachers,
  for your decrees ^| are my study.
 ¹⁰⁰I am wiser ^| than the elders,
  because I observe ^| your commandments. 
 ¹⁰¹I restrain my feet from every ^| evil way,
  that I may ^| keep your word.
 ¹⁰²I do not turn aside ^| from your judgments,
  because you your- ^| self have taught me.
 ¹⁰³How sweet are your words ^| to my taste!
  They are sweeter than honey ^| to my mouth.
 ¹⁰⁴Through your commandments I gain ^| understanding;
  therefore I hate every ^| lying way.

2 Timothy 3:14–4:5

¹⁴But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, ¹⁵and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
 ^4:1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: ²proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. ³For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, ⁴and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. ⁵As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Luke 18:1-8

¹Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. ²He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. ³In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent.’ ⁴For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ” ⁶And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? ⁸I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Jesus tells a parable about two people.  First there is a truly disgusting judge. He is a sleazy jurist, probably put in his position through some political shenanigans.  The widow is the woman who always gets the raw deal, because she has nothing—no husband, no inheritance, no social standing.  What hope does she have before this judge?   

She does have one thing.  She can pester. Leaving messages on his answering machine, constantly banging on his door, giving him no peace — she is persistent.  Finally, the judge says to himself, “Even though I could care less about God and can’t stand humanity, I will give this woman what she wants, just to get her out of my hair.”  

Maybe in this story, Jesus wants us to understand that, even though the world may look broken, unjust, and corrupt, if we keep working at it, if we persistently believe the world to be a basically good place, things will work out.  If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.  

But if that were the parable’s lesson, this would not be, “Pray always and don’t lose heart,” but merely “Keep at it, be persistent, and things will eventually work out for the best.” If that were the point, Jesus would have said we should keep at prayer, harassing God until we get what we want. But Jesus told this parable, “In order that we might pray always without ceasing and not lose heart.” 

This is a parable about the character of God. It’s about a judge. If this sleazy judge will open up his hand to those who seek justice, how much more so will God?  Think of prayer, not as asking God to do this or that for us, but rather as asking God to be God, to be who God is. 
This parable is a story, not so much about the efficacy of prayer, but about the character of God and the kingdom God wants to usher in. The judge revealed his sleaziness. God reveals God’s goodness. 

For me this parable is primarily about the relationship between prayer and justice. And when I speak of justice I mean fairness, equity, making sure everyone has enough, biblical justice. I have learned a great deal about the relationship between prayer and justice the past few years.

In February 2020, I was in California for a training with Lutheran church leaders from across the American West. We were preparing to lead groups on Zoom through a series of spiritual practices. We all thought we were going to be part of a big and relatively new experiment—could we create genuine community online? Little did we know that the rest of the world was going to quickly join the experiment.

Central to the spiritual practices I led my Northwest Intermountain Synod group through was the relationship between prayer and doing justice. Readers of Richard Rohr’s daily devotions might use the language of contemplation and action (like the name of the center Rohr founded in New Mexico). 

Every Sunday, after a time of checking in, I led the group through a spiritual practice, different each week. Then we would reflect together on our experience. Finally, we would discuss what action the spiritual practice might be leading us into the next week. Often the commitment to action was small—take time to listen to someone, ground myself before a meeting, go on a walk to clear my head, be truly present to another person.

These 12 faith practices are not a list of things to check off. This was not a different spin on earning eternal life or forgiveness through good works. I see the practices as a response to the abundant love of God we have already received. Trying them, making them part of our life of faith, nurtures our relationship with God, a relationship we are already in. Participating in these faith practices in community, rather than individually, helps create new relationships with other disciples, other people trying to follow Jesus. Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly to me, the spiritual practices impact our relationships with self.

I led a second group through the spiritual practices last year and am getting ready to start leading my third group. A huge piece of the experience has in fact been listening. We do a lot of listening—to one another, to God, and to our own selves. And this brings me back to the relationship between action and contemplation or prayer and justice. Listening is crucial to both prayer and justice. It is, in my humble opinion, a key part of following Jesus. A huge part of the Christian calling is to listen—to the Word of God through scripture, to neighbors and strangers and friends, to the stirrings in my own soul, to other followers of Jesus, to people who society tries to mute, and to the Holy Spirit.

With all of that as context, let’s look at the parable again. It’s natural to want to see ourselves as the widow in Jesus’ parable this morning. And for some of us, that may be a faithful interpretation for today or some time in our past. For those in our city, county, and world with very little power and agency, all they can do is cry out for justice—cry out to those with more power and cry out to God.

However, most of us gathered here have at least a little agency, and a little power. We are, therefore, not the widow or the judge. We are somewhere else in the parable. We may be the ones with power to have prevented some of the widow’s despair. The question for us, reading this parable about prayer and justice, is how does the one inform the other? Put another way, how do our prayers transform or shape our quest for justice, our discipleship? 

When I once asked a college student attending worship here what she appreciated about worship at Trinity she stated, “You cannot pray the prayers of intercession Sunday after Sunday and not be transformed.” We follow a pattern each week which includes intercessions for the church, the well-being of creation, for peace and justice in the world, for the poor, oppressed and lonely, for all who suffer in body, mind, or spirit, and for our congregation. 

Yes, we have a list of people connected to our congregation who we might remember silently in our hearts, but the prayers are never a list of merely our material wants. And I can say, as someone who grew up in this tradition and has prayed these petitions with assemblies for over 40 years that they have in fact continually transformed me and my view of the world.

One writer suggested that prayer, in the context of this morning’s parable, is a way to describe confidence in and openness to the support of God.

Luther theologian Dietrich Bonoheffer once said that “Our being Christian today will consist in only two things: in praying and in doing justice among people.” He too saw the connection. When you pray every week or every day for justice to be done, for the lowly to be lifted up, for unjust systems to be dismantled, for the weak to the be strengthened, for the powerful to be brought down, for parts of creation to be made whole again, then you want to be part of making all of that happen in whatever small way you can. 

You might help people register to vote or get to the poles. You might read about candidates and issues we are voting on with the lens of faith. You might earn or spend money in new ways. You might give your time to causes aligned with the Gospel and our prayers of intercession. As one person put it, “crying out to God” must be correlated with practices consistent with the dogged pursuit of justice.” (Green)

Later in this service we will pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come…”  See?  First the Lord ’s Prayer talks about who God is, before it asks God to do anything like give us bread or forgive us our sin.  We wouldn’t even bother God about bread were it not for our abiding conviction that we are God’s creatures and that our Creator cares. 

In praying we show our confidence that this God hears, and cares, and acts. When we pray for something as mundane, as essential as “daily bread” it is making a rather amazing statement of faith in the goodness of God. Prayer is our way of responding to God’s love. We join our God who cares about bread, and rain, and peace, and forgiveness. Prayer is the courageous determination to let God be God and to become part of God’s kingdom breaking into this world.

Prayers of Intercession

The prayers are prepared locally for each occasion. The following examples may be adapted or used as appropriate.

In gratitude and humility, let us join together in prayer on behalf of all of God’s creation.

A brief silence.

For all the baptized, that they become skilled in compassion and grace and equipped to share the good news with all. Grant your followers persistence in proclamation and prayer. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

For air and sky, clouds and sun, that they provide rain to parched land and relief to flooded ground. Renew and restore our polluted atmosphere and empower us to be worthy stewards of creation. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

For judges, juries, and all who work in the judicial system, that they desire wisdom, seek truth, rule with fairness, and have the courage to do what is right. Eliminate oppression and injustice in our criminal justice system. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

For all who are lonely, especially those who have newly arrived in an unfamiliar city or country, political prisoners without recourse to justice, hospital patients without visitors, and any who are ill or grief-stricken. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

For those in our congregation and community engaged in advocacy work (local ministries may be named), that with the persistence of the widow, they lift their voices in seeking justice on behalf of others. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

For those who have taught us faith and now rest in your heavenly peace (especially), that we remember and give thanks for these saints who shared the gospel through word and deed. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

With grateful hearts we commend our spoken and silent prayers to you, O God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Almighty and most merciful God, your bountiful goodness fills all creation. Keep us safe from all that may hurt us, that, whole and well in body and spirit, we may with grateful hearts accomplish all that you would have us do, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7

¹These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ⁵Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. ⁶Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Psalm 66:1-12

 ¹Be joyful in God, ^| all you lands;
  be joyful, ^| all the earth.
 ²Sing the glory ^| of God’s name;
  sing the glory ^| of God’s praise.
 ³Say to God, “How awesome ^| are your deeds!
  Because of your great strength your enemies ^| cringe before you.
 ⁴All the earth bows ^| down before you,
  sings to you, sings ^| out your name.” 
 ⁵Come now and see the ^| works of God,
  how awesome are God’s deeds ^| toward all people.
 ⁶God turned the sea into dry land, so that they went through the wa- ^| ter on foot,
  and there we re- ^| joiced in God.
 ⁷Ruling forever in might, God keeps watch o- ^| ver the nations;
  let no rebels ex- ^| alt themselves.
 ⁸Bless our ^| God, you peoples;
  let the sound of ^| praise be heard. 
 ⁹Our God has kept us a- ^| mong the living
  and has not allowed our ^| feet to slip.
 ¹⁰For you, O God, have ^| tested us;
  you have tried us just as sil- ^| ver is tried.
 ¹¹You brought us in- ^| to the net;
  you laid heavy burdens up- ^| on our backs.
 ¹²You let people ride over our heads; we went through ^| fire and water,
  but you brought us out into a place ^| of refreshment. 

2 Timothy 2:8-15

⁸Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel, ⁹for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. ¹⁰Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. ¹¹The saying is sure: 
 If we have died with him, we will also live with him;
 ¹²if we endure, we will also reign with him;
 if we deny him, he will also deny us;
 ¹³if we are faithless, he remains faithful—
 for he cannot deny himself.

 ¹⁴Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening. ¹⁵Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth.

Luke 17:11-19

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, ¹³they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. ¹⁵Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. ¹⁶He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? ¹⁸Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Jesus is continuing to teach his listeners and followers about discipleship, clear and simple. Ever since he turned his face towards Jerusalem, Jesus has been telling parables, teaching his followers how to pray, and healing people. All of it has been in the service of explaining and showing what precisely it means to follow Jesus, to be part of his reign of God work, to be a disciple. The same is true of our story today, especially if we pay attention to the details.

As the story unfolds, ten lepers were cleansed on their way to the priests. And why did only one turn back to praise Jesus? Maybe some of the former lepers were rule followers. Even though they were cured on their way to the priests, they thought to follow Jewish law and go see the religious authorities just in case. Maybe they didn’t make it to the priests but instead went home to rejoice with their families or friends—showing them the sores that were cured, the feet and hands that grew back.  And maybe, just maybe, weeks or months later they caught up with Jesus and fell on their knees and shouted their thanks and praise.  

The story points us not to what those cured lepers did not do but what the one leper did.  It may be impossible to imagine any cured leper being more or less thankful than another, but perhaps he was. Lepers were, as we can imagine, banished from their communities, so much so that the only people they could turn to for companionship with other lepers. But this one leper was an outsider in his outsider community. Why? Because he was a Samaritan.  

The tension between Jews and Samaritans has roots in a somewhat complicated history, which is worth studying. For the purposes of understanding today’s text, what’s important is that during the time Jesus is teaching, Jews would have considered Samaritans their enemies. So, when I say that the Samaritan leper was an outsider in his outsider community, I mean that he was twice ostracized.  Then all at once he is cured—restored at least to the human race.

He runs back to Jesus and thanks him and it seems that in the thanking and in the praising, he is made well, no longer simply cured of his disease, but made well, whole, complete; and all of this despite being a foreigner and enemy. And he gives thanks not to the universe, not to some abstract thing, not to a pantheon of Roman Gods—Jupiter, Mars, Venus, but to the very man who has cured him.

The one who returns to Jesus does so because he recognized that he was “healed.” He does not return to be healed. He returns, instead, to give thanks and praise to God. This is no small act. It is also not something entirely new in Luke’s particular gospel. Beginning with the shepherds in the fields, continuing with Simeon and Anna at the infant Jesus’ presentation in the temple, to witnesses of Jesus’ miracles, and finally to the centurion at the foot of the cross. Like others who come in contact with Jesus, the healed Samaritan who returns to Jesus shows us that the proper response to any act of grace is thanks and praise to God.

I want to go on a short interlude here because of how this text has sometimes hit me in the past. Many of you know that I have been treated successfully with medication for Epilepsy for many years. My story with that illness is long and hard and so far has a pretty great ending in which I was not cured, but was certainly healed and restored to a relatively normal life. Fortunately, no one every approached my family members or I and just said, “if you only had stronger faith, you would be cured of this illness.” And there are people with Epilepsy who never get the right medication, treatment, or surgery. But they can still have abundant life. They can still be full members of society, not ostracized. That restoration and healing work is ours to do—those of us gathered here who claim to follow Jesus.

To be sure, it is not that faith played no part in my journey with Epilepsy, and I would speak for both of my parents here too. Much as I like our Psalm for the day, with its remembrance of the deliverance through the Red Sea, today’s gospel actually makes me think of Psalm 136 with its continuous refrain about God’s love enduring forever, a truth that has sustained so many who are depleted and worn down.

“O Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good, for God’s love endures forever. O give thanks to the God of gods, for God’s love endures forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords, for God’s steadfast love endures forever.”  Over and over that line is repeated, almost pummeled into the prayer: for God’s love endures forever.

If we know that God’s love endures forever, why do we not praise God? So many reasons. Take your pick. We get distracted by life and we forget. Long ago we simply had the distractions of family and maybe co-workers. But now there are so many messages coming at us through our screens, billboards, radio, and television. Everyone wants a piece of our time, money, attention and yes, praise.

Something else that keeps us from praising God is as old as the Ten Commandments. The idols may look different today than they did in Sinai, but we still contend with a variety of other gods—money, power, status. There is a reason the first commandment is the first: You shall have no other gods. In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther wrote, “We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.” When we have other gods, we naturally give praise to other gods.

And of course, we do not praise God because life is hard, and we get weary and worn. Illness (physical or emotional), the loss of a job, the loss of a life, the loss of a future, betrayal. Sometimes the circumstances of our life are beyond difficult and there simply do not seem to be any acts of grace for which to give God praise. 

And yet, despite the fact that we are weary, forgetful, and that we turn to other gods, God’s love endures forever. And God just keeps showing up. God continues to heal and restore us. What is so remarkable to me about God’s action is how ordinary it usually is. I loved my mom and my short trip to the Wallowa Mountains and all we learned about Chief Joseph and the Wallowa band of the Nez Perce. Like the trip with our teenagers to Minneapolis-St. Paul in July, I think travel, with the intentionality to learn about those who are different than us, is going to continue to be important for healing to take place in this world. 

And yet, I am also a recipient of healing and restoration that are very ordinary: conversation with a friend, sharing a meal with loved ones, a hike exploring the beauty of the natural world. 

This is God’s M.O. so I should not be surprised. But our disappointment in God’s use of the ordinary is also nothing new. We want dramatic gestures and special words. We want the power of this world. And instead we get a four-word promise, “God’s love endures forever.” Instead of amazing rituals, we get a simple baptismal font. Instead of complicated proclamations with lots of fanfare we are invited to a meal of bread and wine. We call the sacraments Means of Grace. With earthly elements and a few words, “for you, for the forgiveness of sin,” we are transformed once again.

At the heart of Holy Baptism is the Prayer of Thanksgiving, during which I say, on behalf of our entire assembly, something like, “Blessed are you, O God, maker and ruler of all things. Your voice thundered over the waters at creation. You water the mountains and send springs into the valleys to refresh and satisfy all living things.

Through the waters of the flood you carried those in the ark to safety. Through the sea you led your people Israel from slavery to freedom. In the wilderness you nourished them with water from the rock, and you brought them across the river Jordan to the promised land.

By the baptism of his death and resurrection, your Son Jesus has carried us to safety and freedom. The floods shall not overwhelm us, and the deep shall not swallow us up, for Christ has brought us over to the land of promise. He sends us to make disciples, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

God doesn’t need to be reminded of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, so why do we say this prayer? We need to be reminded. The Prayer of Thanksgiving helps us remember. And whenever we hear the prayer, whenever we wash our face and remember our baptism, whenever we remember, we cannot help but give thanks and praise for all that God has and will continue to provide.  And, whenever we give thanks, we are made well, made whole, made complete.

Prayers of Intercession

In gratitude and humility, let us join together in prayer on behalf of all of God’s creation.

Gracious God, we give you thanks for bishops, pastors, and deacons (church leaders may be named). Inspire leaders of the church to proclaim your mighty deeds, that your saving faith may be known to all. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Majestic God, we give you thanks for land and water, seedtime and harvest. Break down boundaries we construct between ourselves and the rest of your creation. Bring renewal and restoration to places affected by pollution and deforestation. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Mighty God, we give you thanks for those in our community, nation, and world who work for justice and peace. Guide those who govern to act on behalf of those marginalized by race, ethnicity, or religion. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Merciful God, we give you thanks that you hear the cries of those in need. Restore to community those who are stigmatized by illness, feel rejected, or who live in isolation. Send healing to all who suffer (especially). Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Faithful God, we give you thanks for the healing ministries of this congregation. Equip those who visit, care, and pray for the sick (especially). Give insight to doctors, nurses, home health aides, and all practitioners of medical arts. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Eternal God, we give you thanks for your faithful people who have gone before us to your glory. Renew our trust in your eternal promises of mercy, redemption, and new life. Hear us, O God.

Your mercy is great.

With grateful hearts we commend our spoken and silent prayers to you, O God; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Benevolent, merciful God: When we are empty, fill us. When we are weak in faith, strengthen us. When we are cold in love, warm us, that with fervor we may love our neighbors and serve them for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Lamentations 3:19-26

 ¹⁹The thought of my affliction ^| and my homelessness
  is worm- ^| wood and gall!
 ²⁰My soul continually ^| thinks of it
  and is bowed ^| down within me. 
 ²¹But this I ^| call to mind,
  and therefore ^| I have hope:
 ²²The steadfast love of the Lord^| never ceases,
  God’s mercies never come ^| to an end; 
 ²³they are new ^| every morning;
  great ^| is your faithfulness.
 ²⁴“You are all that I have,” ^| says my soul,
  “therefore I will hope in ^| you, O Lord.”
 ²⁵You are good to those who ^| wait for you,
  to all that ^| search for you.
 ²⁶It is good that one ^| should wait quietly
  for the salvation ^| of the Lord.

2 Timothy 1:1-14

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
 ²To Timothy, my beloved child: 
  Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

 ³I am grateful to God—whom I worship with a clear conscience, as my ancestors did—when I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. ⁴Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. ⁶For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; ⁷for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.
 ⁸Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner, but join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, ⁹who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, ¹⁰but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹For this gospel I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher, ¹²and for this reason I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him. ¹³Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Luke 17:5-10

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ⁶The Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
 ⁷“Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’? ⁸Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’? ⁹Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’ ”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Today is our last Sunday in The Season of Creation, an ecumenical movement begun in 1989. It began with Sept. 1, a day of prayer for creation and culminates Oct. 4, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. Our Season of Creation will conclude Wednesday evening on the lawn with our annual Pet Blessing. 

The planners of The Season of Creation, writing about the 2022 theme The Burning Bush, remind us that “the fire that called Moses as he tended the flock on Mt. Horeb did not consume or destroy the bush. This flame of the Spirit revealed God’s presence. This holy fire affirmed that God heard the cries of all who suffered and promised to be with us as we followed in faith to our deliverance from injustice. In this Season of Creation, this symbol of God’s Spirit calls us to listen to the voice of creation.” Listen to the voice of creation.

Surprising even to me, this week I was drawn not to the passages from Luke or Lamentations, but to the reading from Second Timothy. The salutation, full of confidence, opens this personal letter. Paul’s apostleship is confirmed, rooted in no other than Christ Jesus and even “by the will of God.” “The promise of life” seems to assume Paul’s impending death (according to the church’s history, Paul was beheaded near Rome). This promised life is eternal life beyond this world, full of joy and peace, which must be the ultimate source of courage and encouragement in overcoming continuing pain and suffering. 

In the second part of our passage, the intimate spiritual-parental relation between Paul and Timothy is recounted. Significantly, we are introduced to Timothy’s own matrilineal life of faith. What is intriguing is the reference to the “ancestors” of faith and Timothy’s grandmother, Lois. As Romans had a suspicion of new religious cults but put high esteem on ancient religions, this reference may have served as a fine apologetic tactic vis-à-vis the anti-Christian, hostile environment. 

This move is, to some extent, what I am trying to do today and tried to accomplish during this Season of Creation. Anyone who thinks care for creation is new to Christianity or humanity in the 21^st century, is sorely mistaken. The urgency may be different, but the words of Hildegard of Bingen, Rachel Carson, Wendell Berry, and Timothy Egan remind us just how far back all this reflection goes. As the apostle Paul could point to Timothy’s grandmother Lois, so we can point to these ancestors in this movement of listening to the voice of creation. 

To that list, today we lift up two more. Francis of Assisi is known for his joy and delight in God’s creation and is often portrayed in art rather sentimentally surrounded by birds and other creatures. However, his wisdom regarding creation was based not on what was perceived as beautiful. Instead, his delight in God’s creation was grounded in his theology.

He recognized the ‘imprint’ of God in every creature – a deeply sacramental view of creation. And his devotion to Jesus who became our brother led him into a sense of fraternity, not only with people but also with all things, animate and inanimate. Towards the end of his life he composed the ‘Canticle of Brother Sun’ in which every creature as ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ gives thanks and praise to God the Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of life. 

Francis Canticle reminds us, as do several of the psalms, that creation sings its own song of praise to God. Duns Scotus, a late thirteenth century Franciscan theologian, speaks of every creature in its unique ‘thisness’ pointing towards, or ‘doing’ Christ, who is the goal and purpose of creation, cf ‘…all things have been created through him and for him’, Col 1.16. Our own care for creation involves us seeking/desiring our true fulfilment in Christ and learning to sing in harmony with the rest of creation – rather than imposing our ‘solutions’ to the crisis which the world is facing.    

In addition to St. Francis, today our musical offering lifts up additional voices, voices of our Indigenous brothers and sisters who use the phrase, “In sacred manner.” Susan Palo Cherwin wrote the text after she took a course called “Fate of the Earth.” I know that many Indigenous people pray this prayer, but, perhaps because Western South Dakota will always be home, when I hear these words, I think first of Black Elk and his vision.

Black Elk says, “And while I stood there I saw more than I can tell and I understood more than I saw; for I was seeing in a sacred manner the shapes of all things in the spirit, and the shape of all shapes as they must live together like one being.”

Black Elk Speaks is the story of the Oglala Lakota visionary and healer Nicholas Black Elk, who lived from 1863-1950, and his people during momentous last years of the nineteenth century. The book offers readers much more than a precious glimpse of a vanished time. Black Elk’s searing visions of the unity of humanity and Earth, recorded and conveyed by John G. Neihardt, have made the book a classic. 

Sounding like a kindred spirit to St. Francis, Black Elk said, “I could see that the Wasichus [the White people] did not care for each other the way our people did before the nation’s hoop was broken. They would take everything from each other if they could, and so there were some who had more of everything than they could use, while crowds of people had nothing at all and maybe were starving. They had forgotten that the earth was their mother.” 

Some colleagues might think I am foolish to return to the passage from Second Timothy and its words about suffering, but I think they help us address something important about care of creation. Some suffering is inevitable—the death of a loved one who dies of old age, a once every century flood. Some suffering is preventable and as people called to help bring in the reign of God, we are called to help prevent it—I would put in this category food scarcity, more frequent extreme weather events, the growing wealth gap. 

And then there is suffering that comes with following Jesus—you speak up when a family member uses a racial slur and it costs you in the relationship, you house an undocumented immigrant—welcoming the foreigner. As we suggested to Confirmation students last Saturday—you haul your trash around with you for a week. 

Writing in a very different time than our own, Paul, or one of his followers, is writing about this last kind of suffering. The last part of our passage is encouragement for the continued courageous missional life in the Holy Spirit, in the midst of persecution. 

It cannot be overemphasized that this third part considers pain or suffering encountered in the life of faith not to be the unfortunate result of unattractive, forced or illegitimate religious life, but the true mark of faithful, grace-filled living in Christ. In other words, the letter seems to say suffering is a natural part of faithful living and since Christ has already overcome it so can we. 

If Christ has already “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” why do we still have suffering in life, particularly persecution due to faithful living? The passage itself does not provide a quick answer for it. In 1 and 2 Timothy taken as a whole, we may sense that these letters see suffering or defeat of it from a cosmic kairos perspective. That is, in the eyes of Christ who lives through eternity now, all the suffering or pain lose their control and are already crushed in his dominion. 

All of the Pauline letters and our passage this morning seem to solemnly state that pain is real pain, shame is shame, and suffering is so very real, which could be very devastating for those going through these things; Paul found himself in distress and agony on many occasions. Yet, no pain or persecution will have its final victory over the faithful who endure it. The kairos time and events are also real. And it is already happening. If only we have eyes to see it with the help of the Holy Spirit, the passage finally seems to say, all should be well even in the midst of all the chaos and mishaps—which are, by the way, always normal in any type of ministry. 

I can’t say what this Season of Creation has meant to each of you. For me, as proclaimer, it has been a call to look at my every day actions and how they impact my neighbors near and far and who they impact the natural world. The season has reminded me that in this work, as in the work of alleviating food scarcity and the housing crisis, we share the company of the communion of saints. I am not the first or last to make care of creation part of following Jesus Christ. On some days, the fact that this work is more urgent than ever has made me so discouraged. On other days I have found great hope in all the people and communities who are so creative and passionate.

With that contrast of despair and hope in mind, let’s hear once more from Black Elk’s vision: “You have noticed that the truth comes into this world with two faces. One is sad with suffering, and the other laughs; but it is the same face, laughing or weeping. When people are already in despair, maybe the laughing face is better for them; and when they feel too good and are too sure of being safe, maybe the weeping face is better for them to see.” 

Prayers of Intercession

As scattered grains of wheat are gathered together into one bread, so let us gather our prayers for the church, those in need, and all of God’s good creation.

A brief silence.

We pray for your holy church in every place and for those who serve following the example of Christ (rostered and lay leaders may be named). Help them to live by faith and walk by the light of your gospel. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For parts of the world ravaged by natural disaster (especially): relieve those affected by floods, wildfires, droughts, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For every nation and for those entrusted with authority: grant our leaders self-discipline in all things, and inspire them with love for your people. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For victims of violence, abuse, and neglect: heal those who have been harmed and protect those who are vulnerable. For all who are sick (especially). God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For this and every congregation: rekindle your gifts within your people, and inspire councils, committees, and individuals to plan and work together that all may know your love. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

In thanksgiving that you have abolished death, and for the saints who have died (especially). Bring us all to eternal life with you. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Gathered together in the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, gracious God, we offer these and all our prayers to you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

O God, rich in mercy, you look with compassion on this troubled world. Feed us with your grace, and grant us the treasure that comes only from you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, ^3awhere King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him. ⁶Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.” ⁸Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, “Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.” Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
 ⁹And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy; ¹²and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard. ¹³In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, ¹⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.

Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16

 ¹You who dwell in the shelter of ^| the Most High,
  who abide in the shadow of ^| the Almighty—
 ²you will say to the Lord, “My refuge ^| and my stronghold, 
  my God in whom I ^| put my trust.”
 ³For God will rescue you from the snare ^| of the hunter
  and from the ^| deadly plague.
 ⁴God’s wings will cover you, and you will find ref- ^| uge beneath them;
  God’s faithfulness will be your shield ^| and defense. 
 ⁵You shall not fear any terror ^| in the night,
  nor the arrow that ^| flies by day;
 ⁶nor the plague that stalks ^| in the darkness,
  nor the sickness that lays ^| waste at noon.
 ¹⁴I will deliver those who ^| cling to me;
  I will uphold them, because they ^| know my name.
 ¹⁵They will call me, and I will ^| answer them;
  I will be with them in trouble; I will rescue and ^| honor them.
 ¹⁶With long life will I ^| satisfy them,
  and show them ^| my salvation.Prayer of the Day

1 Timothy 6:6-19

⁶Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; ⁷for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; ⁸but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. ⁹But 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. ¹⁰For 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.

 ¹¹But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you ¹⁴to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. ¹⁶It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
 ¹⁷As 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. ¹⁸They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, ¹⁹thus 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

[Jesus said:] ¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴He 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.’ ²⁵But 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. ²⁶Besides 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.’ ²⁷He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ ²⁹Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ ³⁰He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹He 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 – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Sometimes I see the growing wealth gap and I simply despair. I have no hope for the uber wealthy—they cannot help themselves the voice in my head goes. Then I read about people like Yvon Chouinard, founder of clothing company Patagonia, who made the news this week for giving his company away to help all of us.

This news was simply the latest in a remarkable history of a company with what Simon Sinek calls a just cause. Take for example Patagonia’s Common Threads Initiative. It includes a commitment to make high-quality clothes that will last a long time, so they don’t have to routinely replaced (which reduces waste); a promise to repair their products for free, so that people don’t throw them out (which reduces waste); a partnership with eBay, so that people can “reuse,” buy and sell secondhand products (which reduces waste) [and is part of the slow fashion movement]; and when a product finally does come to the end of its life, Patagonia will take it off your hands to recycle it rather than have us throw it in the garbage (which reduces waste).

Anyone who looks at a wealthy person and thinks, “well, it’s a forgone conclusion that he or she will always walk by the least among us” should consider Chouinard and Patagonia. There are many ways to walk on this earth as a wealthy person. And individuals and companies can make money if they are driven by a just cause, not the bottom line.

In Jesus’ words this morning, two very different lives are exposed with sobering insight. We dare not miss their wisdom. A life well lived is never lived apart from those around us. Blessings received are never meant to be enjoyed alone. It is only in caring for those around us that we live the life God intends. Someone once remarked that the only reason that the Dead Sea is dead is because it never let any of the water that entered it go out again. It kept it all for itself and in failing to share became stagnant and lifeless.

After two verses that set up the initial tension between the rich man and the Lazarus, who lives at the rich man’s gate, and, we can imagine, was visible to the rich man every time he left his home, both men died and find themselves with reversed fortunes for all eternity. Lazarus did not earn his fate but received compensation for misfortune and misery that were beyond his control. The rich man, however, finds himself tormented in Hades as the consequence of his own actions, or as a consequence of his inaction in regard to Lazarus.

The rich man’s first response to his condition is as self-absorbed as the life he lived. He calls to Abraham to release Lazarus with some water to cool his burning tongue. The fact that he knows Lazarus’s name means that he knew the name of the man he passed every day and to whom he would not give even his table crumbs. 

Abraham addresses the rich man with the same term with which the father in the prodigal son parable addresses his elder son, “child,” and tells him that it is not possible for anyone to cross the divide. Abraham actually says, “Those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so,” perhaps implying that Lazarus would have done this deed of mercy were it allowed. The rich man, by contrast, is incapable of compassion for Lazarus, even in death.  

But he does muster some compassion for his brothers. After he learns that his torment cannot be relieved, he asks Abraham to employ Lazarus as a messenger, again with no regard for Lazarus other than as someone to do his bidding, to his five brothers to warn them in order that they may avoid his fate. Abraham denies this request also. There will be no Christmas Carol ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future to warn his brothers. 

Abraham holds firmly to the position that the brothers have Moses and the prophets, who are sufficient to convince the convincible to live their lives with compassion for the poor. From our perspective, we also have this story to add to our warnings.  The rich man, who could not reach his brothers through Lazarus, has reached his brothers and sisters through the telling of the story.  

The author of 1^st Timothy reminds us that the love of money, and not money itself, is the root of much evil. Throughout the centuries of human experience with trade and commerce, humanity has found it difficult to have wealth yet not become possessed by it or love it. The practice of stewardship is central. Acting as stewards rather than owners can function like a riverbank that helps to keep our desires flowing powerfully where they belong. Or, remembering that we are stewards rather than owners can raise speedbumps for us when we have taken a questionable road in pursuit of “more.”

An explicit message in 1^st Timothy is that communities need to pay attention to their desires.  We would do well as a church to develop a vocabulary of attending to desires. Created as we are in the image of God, we are born to desire God and to care for one another. Disordering of desires can lead to worshiping things other than God and turning others into means to our self-interested, self-absorbed ends.

This is root of the rich man’s sin—he puts his trust in the world, not God. And this is something anyone can do—rich or poor.  That this is at the heart of our scripture verses today means that these texts apply to all of our lives.  

Few of us gathered here will have the opportunities of Yvon Chouinard and Patagonia. Most of us, when it comes to love of our neighbors and care for the land, are going to have an impact by acting in our local context. I can think of few other great guides for this than Wendell Berry, the Kentucky farmer, essayist, poet sometimes called the prophet of rural America. 

He recently published his latest book. Here are a few lines from a review I read this week, “Now in his late 80s, Berry writes from a singular perspective, drawing on a lifetime of experience. As in all his work, he returns to fundamental questions about how people might live together in ways that heal and nurture all members of a local community.” 

Writing about the local economy some time ago, Berry wrote, “So far as I can see, the idea of a local economy rests upon only two principles: neighborhood and subsistence. In a viable neighborhood, neighbors ask themselves what they can do or provide for one another, and they find answers that they and their place can afford. This, and nothing else, is the practice of neighborhood. This practice must be, in part, charitable, but it must also be economic, and the economic part must be equitable; there is a significant charity in just prices.”

A realist, Berry adds, “Of course, everything needed locally cannot be produced locally. But a viable neighborhood is a community; and a viable community is made up of neighbors who cherish and protect what they have in common. This is the principle of subsistence. A viable community, like a viable farm, protects its own production capacities. It does not import products that it can produce for itself.” (Orion Magazine)

The rich man of our parable would have been hard-pressed to fit into Berry’s economy, but Chouinard could have. So could the prophet Jeremiah, who we heard from again today. 

The LORD instructs Jeremiah to purchase the field, because the prophet has the right to redeem it. This well-known practice in ancient Israel involved the purchase of land by the next of kin, usually when a relative had died, in order to keep property within the clan (cf. Ruth 4). The significance of this action is profound given the historical context of the second Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.

In the middle of city’s impending destruction, Jeremiah makes an investment in the future stock of Judah’s eventual restoration, when “houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.”  This symbolic action of hope does not cancel out the word of judgment that Jeremiah had already proclaimed. The judgment of the LORD was certain. The fate of the people was sealed. In fact, it was being fulfilled even as Jeremiah was signing the deed of purchase. 

Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and Judah and carry off its inhabitants into exile. The prophet, however, activates the future in the present through a symbolic act of purchasing a field. God’s people would be restored and would again thrive in the land (verse 15). Perilous times require the faithful to put into embodied action the hope that God has announced, which is already here, but not yet.

As we sort through the specific issues of justice and mercy in our time and place we are reminded to really see our local economies, to look into the eyes of our neighbors, and to gaze deeply into the waters and soil and landscape of Southwest Idaho or the places where we reside. 

We have the word of God passed down through generations to warn us, guide us, and give us hope. Here, to close, are a few stanzas from Wendell Berry’s A Poem on Hope.

Found your hope, then, on the ground under your feet.
Your hope of Heaven, let it rest on the ground
underfoot. Be it lighted by the light that falls
freely upon it after the darkness of the nights
and the darkness of our ignorance and madness.
Let it be lighted also by the light that is within you,
which is the light of imagination. By it you see
the likeness of people in other places to yourself
in your place. It lights invariably the need for care
toward other people, other creatures, in other places
as you would ask them for care toward your place and you.

No place at last is better than the world. The world
is no better than its places. Its places at last
are no better than their people while their people
continue in them. When the people make
dark the light within them, the world darkens.

Prayers of Intercession

As scattered grains of wheat are gathered together into one bread, so let us gather our prayers for the church, those in need, and all of God’s good creation.

A brief silence.

O God, rich in mercy, fill your church with righteousness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Empower the baptized by your Spirit to be rich in good works and ready to share. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Protect the earth and its creatures. Provide water, food, shelter, and favorable habitats, especially for endangered species. Preserve threatened ice caps, glaciers, parks, and beaches. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Increase justice in nations, local governments, and courtrooms. Guide lawyers and those who hold public office to act with compassion and discernment (local authorities may be named). God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Give food to the hungry. Set the captives free. Lift up those who are bowed down. Watch over the stranger. Tend to those who are ill (especially). Stir us to act in the best interest of our neighbors. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Enliven our praise. Inspire musicians, artists, poets, and all who create beauty in this place (those who plan and lead worship may be named). God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Enfold the saints who have died in the arms of your loving care. Grant that the holy angels accompany us and bring us to eternal life with them in the light of your presence. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Gathered together in the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, gracious God, we offer these and all our prayers to you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

God among us, we gather in the name of your Son to learn love for one another. Keep our feet from evil paths. Turn our minds to your wisdom and our hearts to the grace revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Jeremiah 8:18–9:1

 ¹⁸My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
  my heart is sick.
 ¹⁹Hark, the cry of my poor people
  from far and wide in the land:
 “Is the Lord not in Zion?
  Is her King not in her?”
 (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
  with their foreign idols?”)
 ²⁰“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
  and we are not saved.”
 ²¹For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
  I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

 ²²Is there no balm in Gilead?
  Is there no physician there?
 Why then has the health of my poor people
  not been restored?
 ^9:1O that my head were a spring of water,
  and my eyes a fountain of tears,
 so that I might weep day and night
  for the slain of my poor people!

Psalm 79:1-9

 ¹O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have profaned your ^| holy temple;
  they have made Jerusalem a ^| heap of rubble.
 ²They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the birds ^| of the air,
  and the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts ^| of the field.
 ³They have shed their blood like water on every side ^| of Jerusalem,
  and there was no one to ^| bury them.
 ⁴We have become a reproach ^| to our neighbors,
  an object of scorn and derision to ^| those around us. 
 ⁵How long will you be an- ^| gry, O Lord?
  Will your fury blaze like ^| fire forever?
 ⁶Pour out your wrath upon the nations who ^| have not known you
  and upon the kingdoms that have not called up- ^| on your name.
 ⁷For they have de- ^| voured Jacob
  and made his dwell- ^| ing a ruin.
 ⁸Remember not our past sins; let your compassion be ^| swift to meet us;
  for we have been brought ^| very low.
 ⁹Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory ^| of your name;
  deliver us and forgive us our sins, ^| for your name’s sake. 

Luke 16:1-13

¹Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. ²So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ ³Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. ⁴I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ ⁵So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ ⁷Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ ⁸And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. ⁹And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
 ¹⁰“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. ¹¹If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? ¹²And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? ¹³No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Today we continue the Season of Creation with the 2022 theme of listening to the voice of creation itself. I had been committed in my planning to incorporate various authors into my sermons but wondered how scientist Rachel Carson would fit in. Then I read our passage from Jeremiah 8 and gave a little prayer of thanks to the Holy Spirit.

Carson lived from 1907-1964 and was trained as a marine biologist. She pursued careers both as a specialist in commercial fisheries and as a writer. Her most influential book was Silent Spring, published in 1962, in which she demonstrated the harmful effects of pesticides on the health of the environment. The book’s power comes in its combination of hard science and its descriptions of the devastation of wildlife in forests and streams.

Her writing is a call for action, but first it is a lament, a call to listen to the voice of creation. She writes, “As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life – a fabric on the one hand delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways. These extraordinary capacities of life have been ignored by the practitioners of chemical control who have brought to their task no “high-minded orientation,” no humility before the vast forces with which they tamper.” 

No Pollyanna, Carson knew that pesticides were here for good, but she lamented the cost that came with no moral deliberation, ““It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never be used. I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons largely or wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge.” 

Like parts of Silent Spring, Jeremiah 8 is pure lament. Who is speaking is not always clear, but the tone of the message is crystal—lament. God is the primary speaker, but we also hear from Jeremiah himself. Hear again v. 18 and 19: ¹⁸My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. ¹⁹Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not in her?” (“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?”).

In v. 18 God through Jeremiah expresses grief and the loss of joy or pleasure at the events. God’s heart is sick and so is Jeremiah’s. In the next verse we hear divine lament. We also get to hear God ask “why!?” All of this is an expression of divine suffering, something we do not talk about much, but a suffering because of what has happened to the relationship between God and humanity.

As we consider longer fire seasons, a global water crisis, barges of trash in the ocean, and other environmental tragedies I think this passage from Jeremiah reminds us that God today suffers both because of human actions and also with human beings. It is clear in our passage from Jeremiah that something similar is going on. God and Jeremiah suffer because of the people; the people have provoked God with their images and foreign idols. God is not coolly unaffected by the rejection but as one deeply wounded by the broken relationship. 

God does not view what has happened to the people with a kind of detached objectivity. There seems little satisfaction that justice has now been done, however much the justice was deserved. God does not leave the people then, nor us, along to wallow in the ill effects of their own sins. God turns from the role of judge to that of fellow sufferer. Jeremiah chapter 8 may remind those of us gathered here of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.

Lament is a faithful response to much in the world and knowing that God suffers with us may give some comfort, but my goal on a Sunday morning is to ultimately leave you with good news. For that we will turn to this most strange and hard to comprehend parable from Luke’s gospel.

The parable begins with some nameless informant telling a certain rich man that his steward has been wasting his money. The master does not inquire. There is no trial. Instead, he simply reads the steward the riot act. “What’s this I hear? You are a disgrace!” the master says. “Turn in your books! You are fired!” The steward comes out of his master’s office with none of his old life left at all. It is over.

But that’s not where the story ends. Watch. “So the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do now that my master has taken away my managership? I’m not strong enough to work as a laborer. I’m too proud to be a beggar. Aha! I’ve got it! I’ll use my brains and ace out that unforgiving tyrant. He would like me to turn in my books? Well, I’ll do just that—after I’ve made a few adjustments.

And so he calls in his master’s debtors and settles accounts with them at considerable write-offs. He knocks the bill of one of them by half, the bill of another by a fifth. This might at one and the same time make him look bad to his manager and good to the debtors. The master might remember the original amounts so cash on hand won’t matter. But the debtors might think kindly of the steward’s write-offs and “receive him into their houses” after he is fired. 

In the end, we read that “The Lord praised the unjust steward, for children of this age are wiser in their generation than the children of light. One pastor wrote that “somehow, between verse 2 (“What’s this? You’re fired!”) and verse 8 (My beamish boy! You’re a genius!) the master of the steward has turned from unforgiving bookkeeper to happy-go-lucky celebrator of any new interest that comes along. 

In a way, the steward had died. He was freed to think things he could not have thought before. He then becomes the agent of life for everybody in the parable. He gives life to his master. Somehow the sight of a loser pulling off a scheme like this in the thick of despair loosens up the master. 

More importantly, the steward gives life to his master’s debtors. Would they have ever approached the master directly? No. The debtors would never have gone near the steward if they had not been convinced he was dead to all the laws of respectable bookkeeping. 

This parable speaks for Jesus’ own life. Jesus himself was not respectable. He broke the Sabbath rules. He hung out with crooks. He died as a criminal alongside other criminals. The church has always had trouble leaving Jesus looking like the character he actually was in first century Palestine. The church cannot resist the temptation to gussy him up into a respectable citizen. 

Parables are not meant to be allegorized. They are not supposed to be fit into an algebraic equation. Resisting this temptation is very hard for our post-Enlightenment minds I will readily admit. Pastor and author Eugene Peterson once accurately described parables as narrative time bombs. 

Today’s parable is about stewardship. Whatever we have now is no more than a temporary management, but an important one. The parable invites us to be like this wise steward. He was ready to cheat the present order for the sake of the new order he knew was coming. Jesus concludes the parable with a moral that recalls Proverbs 19:17: “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.”

I could not help but be reminded of the steward’s craftiness and Jesus’ own lack of respectability when I read about something that took place Wednesday evening up near Luther Heights. First some background. In 1992, a sockeye salmon returned to Idaho waters from the Pacific Ocean. His journey included navigating 900 miles and 6500 feet of elevation gain, something salmon have done for millennia. But rather than returning with thousands of others, upon entering Redfish Lake (his native spawning ground), he was discovered, alone. Nicknamed “Lonesome Larry”, local fish biologists were able to harvest his sperm and fertilize thousands of eggs. This was done to rebuild and reestablish the local population of sockeye salmon. 

Wednesday, Kurt Tardy from the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes’ fish and wildlife sockeye recovery project, invited forest and fire personnel to witness and assist with the release of 102 adult sockeye salmon into Pettit Lake. All are genetic descendants of Larry. The release will allow for natural spawning in Pettit Lake and, it is hoped, many more returning salmon in the years to come. The Forest Service reported that it was a beautiful representation of new life and hope for this area. 

Lonesome Larry, the salmon, went literally against the water. And he was unconventional in his spawning journey. To me this is a reminder that as we human beings work to heal God’s good creation, the natural world itself may be one of our greatest sources of inspiration and teachers. Then we witness the humans. In the midst of Ross Fork fire, something beautiful happened. I’m not sure if the Forest Service broke its own rules or even bent them, but the rangers did make room for the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe to continue its inspiring sockeye recovery project. It’s clear to me that the Holy Spirit has been opening hearts and minds all over the place.

There is a great deal to lament as we scan environmental destruction in this country and globally. Since Silent Spring was published, we have learned some things and helped heal various places. Meanwhile, population growth and unchecked Capitalism have created new problems. Amid this seeming chaos, we are called to be stewards of the land and of all God provides. Today we give thanks for a Savior who was like no other and who might inspire us to follow him in unrespectable and unconventional ways as we try to heal this planet we all share.

Prayers of Intercession

The prayers are prepared locally for each occasion. The following examples may be adapted or used as appropriate.

As scattered grains of wheat are gathered together into one bread, so let us gather our prayers for the church, those in need, and all of God’s good creation.

A brief silence.

God our Savior, you keep your church in faith and truth. Accompany those preparing for baptism or affirmation of baptism. Enlighten preachers, teachers, seminarians, and all those who share your good news with the world. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Divine teacher, you instruct your children to be responsible stewards of your creation. Show us how best to care for the earth and its resources, and guide those who work to develop sustainable practices. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Ruler of the nations, you direct those in authority. Give leaders wisdom and compassion so that all may live in peace. Inspire public servants to follow the example of courageous leaders (especially Dag Hammarskjöld) and safeguard the dignity of each person. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Helper of the needy, you lift up those who are oppressed. Breathe justice into economic and social systems that perpetuate poverty and hunger. Sustain food ministries, clothing banks, and emergency shelters (local outreach may be named). God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Sustainer and giver of life, you bless this congregation with abundance. Instruct us in the proper and faithful use of wealth and resources, that we share generously. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

God of glory, you gather your saints around your throne. Keep us thankful for the witness of those who have gone before us (especially), and bring us with them to the heavenly feast that has no end. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Gathered together in the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, gracious God, we offer these and all our prayers to you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

O God, overflowing with mercy and compassion, you lead back to yourself all those who go astray. Preserve your people in your loving care, that we may reject whatever is contrary to you and may follow all things that sustain our life in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse—¹²a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.

 ²²“For my people are foolish,
  they do not know me;
 they are stupid children,
  they have no understanding.
 They are skilled in doing evil,
  but do not know how to do good.”

 ²³I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void;
  and to the heavens, and they had no light.
 ²⁴I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking,
  and all the hills moved to and fro.
 ²⁵I looked, and lo, there was no one at all,
  and all the birds of the air had fled.
 ²⁶I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert,
  and all its cities were laid in ruins
  before the Lord, before his fierce anger.
 ²⁷For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.
 ²⁸Because of this the earth shall mourn,
  and the heavens above grow black;
 for I have spoken, I have purposed;
  I have not relented nor will I turn back.

Psalm 14

 ¹Fools say in their hearts, “There ^| is no God.”
  They are corrupt, every deed is vile; there is no one who does ^| any good.
 ²The Lord looks down from heaven up- ^| on us all,
  to see if there is anyone who is wise, who seeks ^| after God. 
 ³They have all proved faithless; all alike ^| have turned bad;
  there is none who does good; ^| no, not one.
 ⁴Have they no knowledge, all those ^| evildoers
  who eat up my people like bread and do not call up- ^| on the Lord?
 ⁵See how they trem- ^| ble with fear,
  because God is in the company ^| of the righteous.
 ⁶Your aim is to confound the plans of ^| the afflicted,
  but the Lord^| is their refuge.
 ⁷Oh, that Israel’s deliverance would come ^| out of Zion!
  When the Lord restores the fortunes of the people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel ^| will be glad.

Luke 15:1-10

¹Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
 ³So he told them this parable: ⁴“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. ⁶And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
 ⁸“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

I am going to be straight with you today that there is a lot going on in our scripture passages, especially situated as we are in this Season of Creation. And that’s on a day that is already filled with so much—Sunday School restarted, we’re celebrating the ministry of Luther Heights even as the forest near camp burns, we’re planting and dedicating our Peace Pole from Peace Camp 2021 on the anniversary of 9/11, we are celebrating guests the same day we say goodbye to a long-time member. 

It’s a lot. But that is one of the things that the life of faith, and life in a faith community, actually excels at—holding seemingly contradictory things side-by-side. Asking, where is God in all of this? How is the Holy Spirit working in the messiness that is real life?

I have colleagues who might discourage me from reading the Jeremiah text and Luke texts on the same Sunday—for they seem so opposed. One is doom and gloom and the other is about throwing parties. Is the same God active in both passages. Definitely yes. Last week something stirred in me a memory of my dad and I standing in the pew of my home congregation in Custer, SD singing the liturgy together. A perfectly normal Wednesday morning turned into a pool of tears as I cried and cried. But I was simultaneously so filled with gratitude—for my dad, for music, for that congregation that loved me into so much of who I remain. Sorrow and gloom alongside deep joy—messy. 

So, we have this seemingly wonderful gospel text full of good news. The lost sheep and the lost coin are both found by a loving God whose mercy is everlasting. The thing is, most of us who read and hear this gospel are probably among those 99 sheep who God left in the wilderness to go search for the lost sheep. We might have felt alone and forgotten by God out there. Are we really rejoicing when the lost is found and brought back? If someone we had not seen for a while showed up today, would we accusingly ask, “Where have you been?” or would we simply say, “I’m so happy to see you! What’s new?” Do we want the lost to be found or are we more like the Pharisees and scribes who grumble and say, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 

In the second parable we do not hear about the other coins. The focus is entirely on the searching God, who like the woman in Jesus’ parable just keeps looking. And now, with this parable, we are reminded that each of us has been lost at some point, maybe even today. And the reason why the “holier than though” attitude of the scribes and Pharisees (and maybe a few grumblers here—I’ll count myself among them) is unacceptable. The real reason to seek and love the lost and throw the party is because ours is a seeking and loving God. 

Basking in the gaze of this loving and seeking God, we could say, great. Carpe Diem. Anything goes. God’s mercy is everlasting. Except that right before he tells these parables, Jesus has talked at length about the cost of discipleship. What’s more, our passage from Jeremiah reveals that while God is a God of relationship and never quite gives up on the human family, there are expectations.

The prophet Jeremiah implores his first audience and us to listen to God’s voice speaking through the natural events. The imagery of approaching catastrophe in Jeremiah’s narrative emphasizes the direct connection between the disobedience of the people and the cosmos and natural order. The entire earth groans when there is unrest among humans. When we abuse God’s wonderful creation, we hurt ourselves. The prophetic idea of knowing God involves living decent and honest lives in harmony with all of God’s creation. 

Pope Francis wrote, “The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet… The impact of present imbalances is also seen in the premature death of many of the poor.” 

I think the harshest line in the Jeremiah passage is verse 22, ²²“For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.” The people have not just done evil, they have not been wise. As one scholar put it, “On the basis of everyday common sense, this people should have known better what it means to do good and shun evil.” 

Likewise, should we as a large body of people not have known better? How could the Flint, Michigan water crisis have happened in 21^st century America? Don’t we collectively know better? Isn’t there enough science, compassion, wisdom, and technology today to have prevented the current water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi? For those in the West, we might take a god hard look at sources like the Ogallala Aquifer and the Colorado River. What are their futures? Will we listen to them and to the land around them so people can access them for years to come? To read statistics on the global water crisis is sobering, but to read about it happening in this country is devastating and should move us to action.

What has happened that we are so apathetic about how out of balance our collective relationship with the natural world is? How can we get back in sync? There are prophets in our own time that it might be more obvious to turn to, but I actually find it both hopeful and helpful to go way back and hear from saints from the Christian family who struggled with this imbalance long ago. One such saint is Hildegard of Bingen, the German mystic born in 1098. Most of her writings, as we have them today, are records of her visions. She also wrote hymns, treatises on medicine, lives of saints, and poems. Today she is sometimes known as the patron saint of green and growing. 

She believed, as Jeremiah did, that humans had been given wisdom and tools to live in harmony with the natural world. She wrote, “With all these things in the world [God] surrounded and fortified humankind and everywhere imbued them with the greatest strength, so that creation might assist them in all things and partake in all human works, so that they might do their work with creation—for humankind can neither live nor even exist without creation, as shall be shown to you in the present vision” (The Book of Divine Works 1.2.2).

Hildegard also had hope that we could turn things around when they went sideways—and the way to do that was through the restoration of justice. The solution to our ecological crises does not lie in fixing the physical damage of the natural environment alone. From Hildegard’s perspective, the only way to restore balance, harmony, and viridity to the natural world is to restore true justice to all aspects of the human condition.

To me it’s appropriate that we celebrate what Lutheran Outdoor Ministries is and does during this Season of Creation. I firmly believe that it’s nearly impossible for human being to help usher in the reign of God if they have never had a glimpse of the kingdom, and one place to get a glimpse is at camp. Not only are you living in intentional Christian community, but you are living in close proximity to the natural world. 

And yet we also get a glimpse of the reign of God each week when we celebrate Holy Communion. We eat bread, which comes from wheat, grown in fields rooted in soil. We drink wine made from grapes on the vine. Each of us comes to the table with the burdens and joys of the particular week but also from a particular life. We gather around the table together and remember God’s promises of forgiveness and new life. The grumpy, the lost, the foolish, the wise all together receiving the gift of Jesus himself. It is messy and beautiful, and it is absolutely a glimpse of creation restored, if just for a moment in time.

Prayers of Intercession

The prayers are prepared locally for each occasion. The following examples may be adapted or used as appropriate.

As scattered grains of wheat are gathered together into one bread, so let us gather our prayers for the church, those in need, and all of God’s good creation.

A brief silence.

Your people receive mercy and your grace overflows in our lives. Fill your church with faith and love, and give understanding hearts to those who work to strengthen our ecumenical and interreligious commitments. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Your creation groans as it suffers the impacts of pollution and lack of care. As the seasons change, renew in us the will to protect plants, animals, and habitats. Bless us with bountiful harvests that all may share. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Your world is shattered and the nations rage. Remember us in your mercy. Teach wisdom to our elected leaders so that we know peace in our world, peace in our homes, and peace in our hearts. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Your children wander homeless and the hungry cry for bread. Seek out those who are lost or lonely, anxious or depressed, or struggling with addiction or illness. Provide for those in any need (especially). God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Your work is done in this congregation with our hands, feet, voices, minds, and hearts. Build up the ministries of this community (local ministries and partnerships may be named), that we serve our neighbors and welcome the stranger in your name. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Your blessed saints who have died now rest in your presence. Give us thankful hearts for those who have been examples of faith in our lives, and receive us with joy when we come to share eternal life with you. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Gathered together in the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, gracious God, we offer these and all our prayers to you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Direct us, O Lord God, in all our doings with your continual help, that in all our works, begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy name; and finally, by your mercy, bring us to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Jeremiah 18:1-11

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ²“Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
 ⁵Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁶Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. ⁹And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

 ¹Lord, you have ^| searched me out;
  O Lord, you ^| have known me.
 ²You know my sitting down and my ^| rising up;
  you discern my thoughts ^| from afar.
 ³You trace my journeys and my ^| resting-places
  and are acquainted with ^| all my ways.
 ⁴Indeed, there is not a word ^| on my lips,
  but you, O Lord, know it ^| altogether. 
 ⁵You encompass me, behind ^| and before,
  and lay your ^| hand upon me.
 ⁶Such knowledge is too wonder- ^| ful for me;
  it is so high that I cannot at- ^| tain to it.
 ¹³For you yourself created my ^| inmost parts;
  you knit me together in my ^| mother’s womb.
 ¹⁴I will thank you because I am mar- ^| velously made;
  your works are wonderful, and I ^| know it well. 
 ¹⁵My body was not hid- ^| den from you,
  while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths ^| of the earth.
 ¹⁶Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written ^|in your book;
  my days were fashioned before they ^| came to be.
 ¹⁷How deep I find your ^| thoughts, O God!
  How great is the ^| sum of them!
 ¹⁸If I were to count them, they would be more in number ^| than the sand;
  to count them all, my life span would need to ^| be like yours. 

Philemon 1-21

¹Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, 
  To Philemon our dear friend and co-worker, ²to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:
 ³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 ⁴When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God ⁵because I hear of your love for all the saints and your faith toward the Lord Jesus. ⁶I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective when you perceive all the good that we may do for Christ. ⁷I have indeed received much joy and encouragement from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, my brother.

 ⁸For this reason, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do your duty, ⁹yet I would rather appeal to you on the basis of love—and I, Paul, do this as an old man, and now also as a prisoner of Christ Jesus. ¹⁰I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment. ¹¹Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful both to you and to me. ¹²I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. ¹³I wanted to keep him with me, so that he might be of service to me in your place during my imprisonment for the gospel; ¹⁴but I preferred to do nothing without your consent, in order that your good deed might be voluntary and not something forced. ¹⁵Perhaps this is the reason he was separated from you for a while, so that you might have him back forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother—especially to me but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
 ¹⁷So if you consider me your partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. ¹⁸If he has wronged you in any way, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. ¹⁹I, Paul, am writing this with my own hand: I will repay it. I say nothing about your owing me even your own self. ²⁰Yes, brother, let me have this benefit from you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. ²¹Confident of your obedience, I am writing to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.

Luke 14:25-33

²⁵Now large crowds were traveling with [Jesus;] and he turned and said to them, ²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Today we begin a season that is new for Trinity Lutheran, at least in my time here, The Season of Creation, an ecumenical movement begun in 1989. It begins with Sept. 1, a day of prayer for creation and culminates Oct. 4, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. Having grown up in the Black Hills of South Dakota and serving here in Southwest Idaho since late 2010, I was particularly drawn to this year’s theme, The Burning Bush. 

I still remember the big fires of the west from my youth. Custer State Park and Yellowstone National Park both burned in the summer of 1988. My stepbrother Mike worked for the Superior National Forest in northern Minnesota. He first served on the fire line across the American West every summer and then moved to law enforcement in the fire camps. When I moved to Idaho, I learned about the Great Fire of 1910 that destroyed Wallace Idaho, the fire that impacted how we think about forest fires and forests themselves in this country. 

The planners of The Season of Creation, writing about The Burning Bush, remind us that “the fire that called Moses as he tended the flock on Mt. Horeb did not consume or destroy the bush. This flame of the Spirit revealed God’s presence. This holy fire affirmed that God heard the cries of all who suffered and promised to be with us as we followed in faith to our deliverance from injustice. In this Season of Creation, this symbol of God’s Spirit calls us to listen to the voice of creation.” Listen to the voice of creation.

There is a family of writers who have lifted up stories in our country of when humans have not lived well with the natural world, writers who woo their readers to listen to the voice of creation. I can think of no one better to begin this Season of Creation with than Timothy Egan. 

In his book The Worst Hard Times, Egan writes about the environmental disaster of the Dust Bowl by following a dozen families and their communities. Egan writes, “The drought was in its fourth year, and it was the worst in at least a generation’s time. But long dry periods were as much a part of the Great Plains as the grass itself. What was different in 1935 was that the land was naked. If the prairie had been held in place by adequate ground cover—grass, or even the matted sprouts of wheat emerging from winter dormancy—the land could never have peeled away as it did, with great strips of earth thrown to the sky.” We can hear the high plains crying out for restoration.

One of the prominent characters in Egan’s narrative history is Hugh Bennett, who FDR appointed as director of the Soil Erosion Service. Egan quotes Bennett, “Of all the countries in the world, we Americans have been the greatest destroyers of land of any race of people barbaric or civilized,” Bennett said in a speech at the start of the dust storms. What was happening, he said, was “sinister,” a symptom of “our stupendous ignorance.” 

Perhaps of greater interest to those of us living in the Intermountain Region is Egan’s book The Big Burn, about the Great Fire of August 1910, which killed 86 people over two days and burned more than three million acres of forest. The fire is also credited with saving the then fledgling Forest Service, so grateful was the public for the service of the fire fighters.

What I love about the way Egan writes is that he tells the history of the land and human interactions with it. Whether it’s the high plains of the Texas panhandle or the forest of the Idaho panhandle, he begins with how the Indigenous peoples lived with the land. He then introduces his audience to people like the cowboys on the XIT ranch in Texas, cowboys who loved the grassland and warned newcomers to not take the plow to grass. In The Big Burn we meet Gifford Pinchot, Teddy Roosevelt’s chief forester, who shared with Roosevelt a deep interest in conservation and was a man ahead of his time.

Egan never suggests that we should go back in time. He recognizes, like the biblical authors we heard from today, that human beings have a propensity for greed but that we also have a desire to correct, to repair, to transform our relationship with the land as individuals and as communities. We have, today, so many disciplines at our disposal. We can learn from history, ecology, biology and even psychology. And to all of these, people of faith, which includes we Christians gathered in this space, can add faith. Faith, our relationship with the Divine, the Holy Trinity, can help us transform our relationship with the natural world. 

The famous passage in Jeremiah about the piece of clay and potter’s house reminds us that God cares about what we do—as individuals, as the church, and as communities. God is not indifferent. When God is angry, it is because God cares. Anyone who is a parent can understand and relate to this. Loving and caring for a child brings with it a whole host of emotions. 

What does God desire? Justice, the biblical justice in which there is enough for all and there is true equity. So, we have this image of God as a potter who works with clay (the people). God wants the best possible vessel to emerge. I love the image of God as artist because it brings with it a trait that is right there in Genesis Chapter 1 but that we seem to often forget—creativity. This passage from Jeremiah reminds us that we worship a God who take initiative, who is creative, and who responds to the clay, the people. 

Will the people repent and turn toward God? Will we be open to new ways of being on this planet with the rest of natural world? To return to forest fires and their history and future in this country, I confess that I do not come today with clear answers. I am not a trained ecologist. My gut tells me there is no one perfect answer. And yet I take heart from stories of land management agencies and firefighters today, stories of those working with Indigenous people to set purposeful fires. For thousands of years many tribes used small intentional burns to renew local food, medicinal and cultural resources, create habitat for animals, and reduce the risk of larger, more dangerous wildfires. 

Going forward, I believe we will need a mixture of the best of ancient practices, the best of modern science, and finally the will to keep trying new things and to sacrifice. We depend on the natural world for so much. Extreme weather events may continue. If they do, fires, floods, and drought will of course bring the most harm and danger to those who are already the most vulnerable. When God is first in our lives, as our Gospel commands, then we have to shape our lives to care for the most vulnerable.

 In Luke 14, Jesus makes it clear that while grace and forgiveness may be freely received, discipleship comes at a cost. If we are to be disciples, to really follow Jesus, we are called to put him, and his Kingdom values, before all else. The examples Jesus gives address two areas which can easily dilute our discipleship: family (v.26) and material possessions (v.33). These words about family may strain our ears so many years later. Take heart, Jesus is not encouraging animosity between family members. The meaning is not literally to hate, but to ensure family does not prevent our single-minded focus on following Jesus. 

Writing to Christians in the context of Nazi Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it this way, “The cross is laid on every Christian. It begins with the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of the old man [woman] which is the result of the encounter with Christ. As we embark upon discipleship, we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with His death—we give over our lives to death. Since this happens at the beginning of the Christian life, the cross can never be merely a tragic ending to an otherwise happy religious life. When Christ calls [someone], He bids [them] come and die.”

A disciple of Jesus must be ready to carry the burden not only of tensions in the family, but even of civil disobedience to the point of legal punishment. This was often the experience of the Gospel writer Luke’s first readers. By the time Luke wrote it was clear that things would not be easy withing the Roman Empire. We, trying to follow Jesus so many years later, to live well with the natural world, to help bring in the kingdom of God, may not have to contend with the Roman Empire. What we face instead are materialism, consumerism, greed, and a me-culture that begs all of us to ignore any notion of the collective good, including the beautiful planet we all call home.

That may bring us to despair, but we have so many stories to give us hope. We have the story of God the potter going back to the wheel again, never giving up. We have stories of people who lived in harmony with the untamed high plains and giant forests. And finally, we have stories of people who destroyed that harmony but later learned from their mistakes. 

We want enough food, water, clean air, and natural beauty for everyone who inhabits this corner of the universe now. We want it for those who come after us too. What are we willing to sacrifice? What are we willing to change? We will exercise our power with our votes, our money, and our time. Our desire to heal the world will be manifest in a million little ways empowered always by the Holy Spirit. For the same Spirit who appeared to Moses in the Burning Bush is with us still, giving us all the strength and creativity and wisdom we need. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession

As scattered grains of wheat are gathered together into one bread, so let us gather our prayers for the church, those in need, and all of God’s good creation.

A brief silence.

We pray for the church around the world and for the mission of the gospel. Refresh the hearts of your people, deepen our understanding of every good thing we share, and strengthen our partnerships in the faith. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For the well-being of the earth and all its creatures: for trees and forests, for all that will yield fruit this season, and for streams and other bodies of water. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For the nations and those in authority: for the elected leaders of our towns, states, and country, and for international organizations. Grant wisdom to those who govern and raise up citizens who make decisions in the best interest of their neighbors. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For all in need: for those who suffer from disease, who struggle with homelessness or food insecurity, for those whose family life is difficult, and for all in this community who need your care (especially). God of grace,

hear our prayer.

For this community of faith: for all our labors—begun, continued, and ended in you—that they glorify your holy name. Bless your people with the strength to live into their many vocations for the sake of the world. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

We give thanks for the saints who now rest from their labors. Give us faith, like them, to love you with all our hearts, and by your mercy, bring us to everlasting life. God of grace,

hear our prayer.

Gathered together in the sweet communion of the Holy Spirit, gracious God, we offer these and all our prayers to you; through Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.