Worship March 5, 2021
Let us worship!
God calls us,
each of us,
in our own way
in our own place
right where we are
just as we are
God calls us
to be vessels of love
vessels of compassion
vessels of grace.
We are called to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world
until Christ comes again in power and glory
let us build up our strength through worship and prayer!
let us worship God
A prayer to center you
Gracious God,
From generation to generation,
you have been faithful and just.
Throughout time you have heard the cries of your people
and stood by them in their pain.
We come to you now,
just as we are.
We come to you now,
broken and heavy laden,
hurting and concerned
weighted down and worried.
But we come to you.
We seek your grace and your compassion
your love and your peace.
As you have faithfully stood by all those before us,
we know you stand by us now,
hearing our cries, lifting our burdens, and helping us to carry on in this world.
Hear now our praise and lament…
And help us to trust in you and the promise of provision that you give.
Amen
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength. 26Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, 29so that no one might boast in the presence of God. 30He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Reflection:
Consider your own call…
Wow, those words hit me hard.
That statement carries a lot of weight; consider your own call.
The last year has been a year of just that for me. It presented me with ample time, opportunity, and necessity to consider my own call. It has not always been an easy task, but it has been an enriching and necessary one. One in which I have learned much about myself, my views on ministry and about God.
As I found myself in a new place with ministry, I have had to reflect on what my gifts are and how best I can use them, as a pastor, mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend. I have had to reflect on my views and understanding of ministry in the general context as well as what ‘church’ will look like in the future. I have had the opportunity to evaluate what God has called me to in life, past, present and the ever-changing future. This time, in the midst of a changing world, has allowed me to reflect on what ministry means and looks like in the world today and moving forward for the Church universal. I have pondered how God desires us, and me, to use our calling in this time. All of these questions find some part of their answer in the Scripture this week.
What does God value? Over the past few weeks as I have refocused myself on my new ministry, this ministry, several things have fallen into place and this Scripture reading hit me at the perfect time. Funny how the Holy Spirit works!
So often the church gets caught up in numbers. Attendance numbers, tithing numbers, so many numbers. We get caught in the earthly ways of measuring success. It is easy to forget about what the real purpose of ministry is, what we are each called to, not numbers, not money, but sharing the love of God with those around us, being the hands and feet of God in the world, today, now, with the people around us, all of the people. These are the things that God calls us to and by which God considers success.
This carries over far past the bounds of the church. The whole ordering of world has shifted these past 12 months. We have spent more time with family and less time in the office. Less time running around and keeping ourselves busy with earthly tasks and more time to reflect on what we should spend our time one, what is truly important to us. Often we do not know the value of something until it is taken away from us. The pandemic has caused us to measure success differently. No longer do power suits rule the day. Workplace power plays around the water cooler are gone—replaced by tucked away offices in multiple corners of our homes. Our measures of success and happiness have been questioned. The ordinary has been shifted to makes us question the importance of the way we had our lives ordered, to question where we placed our values. When sickness and death looms, it can cause us to consider our priorities while we have breath in us.
So often the old measures of success were based on earthly ideas. Wealth, power, and knowledge, those are humanities yardsticks to measure our value. However, God measures success differently, as this text points out. God sent us Christ as the example by which to measure success. We are all called, as Christians, to follow in the ways of Christ and live into the model that Christ set before us. In our discussion last Sunday we heard Rachel Held Evans say that too often Christians focus only on the cross and not on the life of Christ. Those words stood out to some in our group. God sent us Jesus, not only for our salvation through his death and resurrection, but as a model for which we are to base our own lives and actions.
As Christians, followers of Christ by name, we are indeed called to live a life that follows the example that Christ set for us. Jesus did not come to gain wealth, or even to cater to those who were wealthy. No Christ came and humbled himself, becoming the least of these, associating with sinners (as defined by society at the time) the tax collectors, the lepers, the sexually promiscuous, the foreigner, the gentile, this is who Christ came to be with. These are the people that God emptied God’s self into human form through Christ Jesus for. It was not the wealthy and the rich that God sent Christ to earth to dwell among. God sent Christ to us that Christ might reach out, not to the highest among us in the social standing of the day, but to the least of these. This is the model that we are to follow.
God cares not about humanities definition of success. All the wealth, power and knowledge in the world is not of use to God. Our own calling is not to hoard money or power or knowledge, no our calling, each of our callings as Christians, is to live in a Christ like way in the world. We are called to show love, compassion, and grace, not only to the most powerful among us but to the least of these. May God give us the strength and courage to do so! Amen
What do you think…
What earthy means of success have you used in the past to measure your value?
Do you think these measure matter to God?
By what measures do you think God would measure success?
What practice could you pick up this week to be the hands and feet of Christ in the world?
Be Thou My Vision
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that though art.
Though my best thought, by day or by night,
walking or sleeping, they presence my light.
Be though my wisdom, by though my true word;
I never with thee, and though with me, Lord.
Born of they love, they child may I be,
Thou in me dwelling and I one with thee.
Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise;
though mine inheritance, now and always.
Though and thou only, first in my heart,
Ruler of heaven, my treasure thou art.
True Light of heaven, when vict’ry is won
may I reach heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
Prayer of Sending
Creating God,
you have given us each a call
to be your people.
Help us move away from measuring our success by humanities standards.
Help us to measure our success by how closely we can follow Christ,
not for boastfulness sake,
but for your sake.
Help us to love graciously,
to act with kindness
and to cover your world with a blanket of care and compassion, now and always.
Amen.
Going out.
Go out into the world, seeking the light of Christ Jesus and may you see all around you the love, compassion, joy, generosity, and hope in the Kingdom of God.
and in all that you do, may the love of Christ Jesus uphold you,
the peace of God sustain you and may the Holy Spirit guide you each step of the way
Let all God’s people say: AMEN
