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Prelude
Welcome and Announcements *Call to Worship O Come let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For the Lord is our God; we are the Lord’s people; the flock that God shepherds. Prayer of the Day God of all power, you called from death our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. Send us as shepherds to rescue the lost, to heal the injured, and to feed one another. with knowledge and understanding. through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hymn Great Is Thy Faithfulness Text: Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923 Music: William Marion Runyan, 1923 Great is thy faithfulness, O God, my Father; there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not, as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. Refrain Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness, to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. Refrain Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide. Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine with ten thousand beside. Refrain. Prayer of Confession Merciful God, We confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart and mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. In your mercy, forgive us, and call us back to your fold, that we may walk in your ways and delight in your will, to the glory of your name. Response Take, O take me as I am, John Bell, 1995 Summon out what I shall be. Set your seal upon my heart and live in me. Repeat Assurance of Pardon The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. I declare to you, in the name of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Be at peace. Amen. Time for Young Believers Prayer of Illumination Scripture Reading John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd, and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me. Just as he Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” Response The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. The Morning Message I look forward to Good Shepherd Sunday each year. It gives me a chance to tell a couple of stories out of my own experience. I share these in hopes that you will see that the Word of God is active and true all these many years since the Canon of Scripture was established in the fourth century. I share it because Psalm 23 is universally familiar and should be one of those scripture texts that we know by heart. And I share these stories because they demonstrate that the Gospel of Jesus Christ works in spite of our assumed differences in faith and practice. The last year of my seminary study was spent at Cabell Huntington Hospital as an intern in Clinical Pastoral Education. Class was held every Tuesday from September through May. Twice a month the interns served a sixteen hour shift. Overnight. The only chaplain in the house. It was a very challenging experience. No two nights were alike. And though I finished the program in 1999, I can’t un-see or un-hear the most traumatic of events. One night a nurse on a med-surg floor called me to come to her unit to provide some respite for her staff. They had an elderly patient with three significant issues: She had a serious staph infection. Do you remember MERSA? That’s what she had. She had advanced dementia. She would not stay in her room, which put the others on her unit in danger of contracting MERSA. And, the third strike was she had no family members to stay with her. They needed help. The nurse asked me to try to get her in bed and stay there for awhile. She hadn’t slept much and she was becoming highly agitated. I agreed to give it a try. I found the patient wandering around the room talking to herself. I looked around to see if there might be something- an object, a photograph, flowers, that would help break the ice. There were no personal belongings that I could find. But there was a bulletin board with a few colorful cards pinned to it. So, I commented on the pretty cards. That caught her attention. I asked her if she wanted to look at them. She did. Then we read the messages and noted who they were from. They were all signed from Mary or John, your friend at such and such church. So we talked a little about church and the kindness of her friends. That took all of ten minutes. She didn’t appear ready for bed yet. So, I said a prayer that I would find what is usually found in a bedside table in a hospital room…the Gideon Bible. And I did. Thank you, Lord. I asked her if she would like to hear some Bible passages and she enthusiastically said she would like that. I asked her what she wanted to hear and she said, “It doesn’t matter, honey. It’s all good.” I helped her into bed and straightened the covers. We were making progress. So, I started with Psalm 23. Very slowly and deliberately. She began to relax. A few verses later, she had pulled the blanket up to her chin. A few more and she seemed to slip down into the bend of the mattress. By the time I finished, her eyes were closed and she was softly snoring. So I kept reading…Psalm 24, 25, 26…until the room held a peaceful stillness. A sense of the holy settled on that room and I was sure that for a few moments this woman, child of God, member of a community of faith, whose days were troubled by mental confusion, had found rest in the house of the Lord, if not forever, at least for the night. What is it about this Psalm? It has a calming, reassuring effect each time it is read and heard. I did a little research on that question this week. Rev. Janet Hunt speaks of the years when she occasionally provided a short Sunday afternoon worship service at a local nursing home. She was sure it had little to no impact. The patients were all gathered in a common room with the kitchen nearby. It was hard to talk over the sound of dishes being washed. She had no microphone so she was almost shouting the whole time. The most noticeable reaction was that the patients usually fell asleep before she finished her message. She says she finally quit competing with the noise and other hurdles and started reading the twenty-third Psalm. Every time. That was all. And, strangely, the noise from the kitchen diminished and she writes, “Eyes would suddenly brighten as God’s people in that place would mouth the words as I spoke them.” Like I did that night at the hospital, she wondered why. These were not people who were raised on farms, their experience with sheep would be nil. So, what was it they tuned into? How were they actually participating when they usually nodded off? She decided it could only have been their upbringing in the faith that made these words so dear to them. Perhaps they had learned the verses at their mother’s knee or on deep walks in the woods with their fathers. Perhaps it was the image of Jesus tenderly carrying a lamb over his shoulder like a parent or grandparent would carry a tired child. Or maybe they recalled the story of shepherds in a field hearing the good news of God’s Son being born in Bethlehem. Or maybe it was the Sunday school story of a shepherd boy becoming king. Whatever it was, it was clear that by their final years, these words and images had become theirs. Even if they had never met a shepherd. Even if they had only encountered sheep from a distance. These words still speak. When a crisis comes, or disaster strikes, I still turn to Psalm 23 for help. It reminds me that God is present with me. Even more than that, he leads me through dark valleys to safety. He fills me with good things. My soul is refreshed and strengthened. Even a confrontation with my adversaries can become a feast with the Lord as the host. And wherever my life takes me, my home is with God. I have travelled a lot with Ed and his choirs. Early one morning, while on such a trip, there was a knock on our hotel room door. I opened it to find one of the parent volunteers who look utterly distraught. We asked him in and told us he had just received a call that his nephew, still a teenager, had attempted suicide. The man cried and cried. He was concerned for the boy and his parents and didn’t know how to tell his own son who was on the trip. We sat for awhile in silence. Then I reached into the drawer of the bedside table. There it was. The Gideon Bible. I turned to Psalm 23 and read, and continued to read until the tears had slowed down and it appeared we could turn to God in prayer. We talked several times over the remainder of the trip. He was getting regular updates from home. Thankfully, a robust plan to address his nephew’s issues had been put in place and everyone was breathing a little easier. A few weeks later I ran into this good man in Kroger, somewhere between the olives and the crackers. He looked ten years younger. His typical upbeat personality had returned. His nephew was doing well and the experience had been instructive for the whole family. A question that had nagged at me since the trip made its way to my lips. This man’s family members attend a free-tradition church out in a rural area of Cabell County. I was pretty sure there was no female leadership. I was equally sure he might be ridiculed for acknowledging me as a pastor. What possessed him to seek my counsel that terrible morning? At that, he stepped back, threw open his arms and exclaimed, “You were all I had!” With a huge dose of humility, I say, Amen. *Affirmation of Faith The Apostles’ Creed I believe in God the Father almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried; He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen. Ascription of Praise Henry W. Greatorex, 1851 Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen, Amen. Joys and Concerns of the Church Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Presenting our Tithes and Offerings Please place your offering in the plates on the Communion table at any time before or after the service. We will not pass them through the congregation until safe to do so. *Benediction The King of Love, my shepherd is, Henry Williams Baker, 1868 his goodness faileth never. Irish Melody I nothing lack, for I am his, and he is mine forever. May it be so for all of you. Amen. *Postlude Announcements Elder of the Month Jon-Tyler Roach Contributions for Cents and Sensibility may be placed on the Communion table alongside all other tithes and offerings. News and articles for the church newsletter are always appreciated. Send your contributions to Jessica Kidd at [email protected] or call at 304-654-2218. Prelude
Welcome and Announcements Call to Worship Psalm 150 Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power, praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre. Praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, Praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord. Hymn Morning Has Broken Text: Eleanor Farjeon, 1931 Music: Gaelic Melody Morning has broken like the first morning; blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for them springing fresh from the Word! Sweet the rain’s new fall sunlit from heaven, like the first dewfall on the first grass. Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, sprung in completeness where God’s feet pass. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning. Born of the one light Eden saw play! Praise with elation; praise every morning, God’s recreation of the new day! Prayer for the Earth O God, we thank you for this earth, our home; for the wide sky and blessed sun, for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills, and the never-resting winds, for trees and the common grass underfoot. We thank you for our senses by which we hear the songs of birds, and see the splendor of the summer fields, and taste of the autumn fruits, and rejoice in the feel of the snow, and smell the breath of spring. Grant us a heart wide open to all this beauty; and save our souls from being so blind that we pass unseeing when even the common thorn bush is aflame with your glory, O God, our creator, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen. Time With Young Disciples Scripture Reading Revelation 21: 1-5 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or morning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. The Morning Message “What did Jesus have to say about the environment?” That is the question Presbyterian minister, Leighton Ford, asks the reader in an editorial he wrote for the Charlotte Observer. He goes on to say he owns a variety of Bibles. From King James to the New Revised and so on. But he had never seen or even heard of the Green Bible until a young friend gave him one for Christmas. The cover is not green- it’s more of an earth-tone light brown. What makes it “green” is that every word, phrase, and paragraph that mentions the created world is printed in green. Ford says he can flip through the entire thing and hardly find a page without some words printed in green. But, Ford asks, with all the varied Bibles, editors and publishers, in all the languages the Wycliffe people can translate, why would we need another Bible? He says it’s because the earth and all its wonders are gifts of God to us, for our care and our use. In our consumer society, we may go about our days without recognizing the importance of the natural environment. The editors of the Green Bible want us to ask of ourselves, “What is my role as a Christian in caring for the earth?” Leighton Ford is a prolific writer and sought-after preacher. He has long been involved in Christian organizations that focus on the faith development of young people. It doesn’t hurt that he is the late Billy Graham’s brother-in-law. But Leighton Ford has had a well-known and respected ministry apart from the Billy Graham Association. In 2016, the year in which this article was published, young people from around the world were gathering to pray about global climate change. The Billy Graham Library was host to one of these gatherings. Rachel Lamb, one of the national organizers, believes that creation care is a gospel issue. She says, “We know that God created the world, and it belongs to Him and not us…we are only stewards or trustees of God’s creation, and we aren’t to abuse or neglect it.” Ford says he can confirm Rachel’s statement. Whenever he opens his Bible, he can find hundreds of texts that speak to that very thing: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” “I am establishing my covenant…with every living creature.” “All the trees of the field will clap their hands.” “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Another Presbyterian cared deeply and reverently about the environment and was instrumental in preserving the American wilderness. John Muir, born in 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, grew up in a strict Presbyterian home. He was well-acquainted with Scripture. He memorized three quarters of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament. He had a fine, agile mind. Memorizing Scripture was not his only gift. His interests and abilities were far-reaching. John Muir listed his professions as naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, and early activist for the preservation of wilderness in these United States. He was also a husband and the father of two daughters. Muir wrote extensively about his experiences in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada. He co-founded the Sierra Club, which still exists, and through his activism, helped preserve the Yosemite Valley and Sequoia National Park. It is said that “the spiritual quality and enthusiasm toward nature expressed in his writing has inspired readers, including presidents and congress members to take action to help preserve large nature areas.” According to author William Anderson, Muir exemplified “The archetype of our oneness with the earth.” Another author said Muir believed his mission was to save the American soul from total surrender to materialism. Jihn Muir’s life and work was so vast and his influence so broad, we could go in one of several directions to explore his contributions to American life. But, it is his relationship to God that I wanted to lift up for us. It is said, that after he had studied Scripture and the works of great theologians and historians, he became attached to the American landscapes he explored, and he began to see another “Primary source for understanding God: The Book of Nature.” In nature, he could study the plants and animals in in an environment that he believed “Came straight from God, uncorrupted by civilization and domestication.” He came to believe that the best place to discover the true attribute of diety was in Nature. One of his biographers says John Muir styled himself after John the Baptist, whose duty was to immerse in mountain baptism everyone he could. To John Muir, nature was a great teacher, revealing the mind of God. Lest I portray John Muir as some type of 19th century super-hero, it must be said that he was flawed and sinful like the rest of us. Although he renounced the beliefs later in life, Muir was said to have had a scandalous attitude about African Americans, which certainly takes the shine off his character. He is not the first actor in the American story to have shamed us, but it is important to acknowledge truth and do better in our generation. I usually park in front of the church, which I really enjoy, especially in the springtime, because, rain or shine, signs of God’s presence, like business cards with petals, dot the path. A crocus, a few daffodils, dandelions, and violets. I love the violets. For some reason, they make me feel at home. John Muir saw nature as providing a home for even the smallest plant life. He wrote, “The little purple plant, tended by its Maker, closed its petals, crouched low in its crevice of a home, and enjoyed the storm in safety.” May we all enjoy our storms in safety. A Time of Sharing Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer *Blessing May you go out to enjoy all God’s gifts of creation. As they have been treasured and tended by generations before us, let us care for God’s wonders today, and preserve them for our children’s children. Amen. *Postlude Leading worship today: Karen Gold, Mark Baker, Choir members, and Cinda Harkless. Prelude
Announcements *Call to Worship 1 Peter 1:3 By God’s great mercy, we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Hymn Thine Is the Glory Edmund Louis Budry, 1884 George Fredrick Handel, 1748 Thine is the glory, risen conquering Son; endless is the victory, thou over death hast won. Angels in bright raiment rolled the stone away, kept the folded graveclothes where thy body lay. Thine is the glory, risen conquering Son; endless is the victory, thou over death hast won. No more we doubt thee, glorious Prince of life! Life is naught without thee. Aid us in our strife. Make us more than conquerors through thy deathless love; Bring us safe through Jordan to thy home above. Thine is the glory, risen conquering Son; endless is the victory, thou over death hast won. Prayer Living God, for whom no door is closed, no heart is locked, draw us beyond our doubts, till we see your Christ and touch his wounds where they appear in others. This we ask through Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. Time for Young Disciples Installation of Trustee Steve Gold Scripture Reading John 20:19-31 The Morning Message Let’s set the scene: the disciples had gathered in a familiar meeting place, very likely the upper room where they had observed the Passover meal and the room in which Jesus instituted the Last Supper. The room was locked up tight for fear of the Jewish authorities. Any footfall upon the stair, a knock, or command to open the door, could signal certain death for them. Then suddenly, Jesus is there with them. He gave them the customary eastern greeting, “Peace be to you.” A more accurate translation would be, “May God give you every good thing.” We can imagine both the shock and the profound peace that would wash over the disciples in that moment. Jesus must have anticipated their need to see for themselves that this man was truly their friend, the crucified one, Jesus. He shows them his wounds, his hands and his side. He lets them touch his body. Note, this is the same gesture Jesus will make for Thomas, but we never call these disciples doubters. Just an observation. And then Jesus commissions them for their life’s work, their magnum opus. “As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Let’s place ourselves in that room: dark and stuffy, with the curtain covering the only window, everyone still as a stone, the snapping electricity of fear running through all of them. Rev. Marci Auld Glass writes that , “Jesus could have gone and sent other people, presumably people with more courage, people who weren’t hiding, or whomever. But, he’s sending his people. His friends. His disciples. The one who denied him three times in eight hours. His disciples. The ones who loved him til the end. Even Thomas, who isn’t there at the moment, but who will get his chance in a bit.” This is great good news for us. We are called and sent, even with our human inadequacies and our brokenness. On the other hand, I’m not sure I want to sign up for the insults and abuse Jesus suffered. But don’t we already know that the gospel doesn’t always take us down easy paths? But, hang on. Here comes the help: After Jesus gives them their instructions, he breathes on them. Now, If someone breathes on me intentionally, I would probably hold my breath and run to the great outdoors. The Greek word for breath is “pneuma.” When someone has pneumonia, he or she has a problem with the organs involved in breathing. In Latin, it comes to us as “Spiritus.” You can see the relatedness of breath and spirit-without breath, we have no life, no spirit. The risen Jesus is imparting his Spirit. And it’s a good thing because the first task Jesus assigns us is this: “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, then they are retained.” I confess, it’s much easier to preach on the six verses at the end of this text- the ones about Doubting Thomas-than it is these curious words about forgiveness. I have some great illustrations. But, that’s not where we are today. If you were to come talk to me about a situation that is troubling you, one that has hurt you, maybe something that has fractured a close relationship, I would probably say something like, the only person’s behavior you can control is your own. You can’t control anyone else’s behavior. We can only change ourselves. When we forgive people, we don’t do it in the hope that they will change. Well, maybe sometimes we do. But, realistically, We forgive so that we are no longer holding onto the pain, the anger, the fear that can damage our lives. Hear me clearly: there are some actions that wound in ways we identify as criminal in nature. That leads the conversation in a different direction altogether. The journey to forgiveness in that case will need a lot of work and support. Last week I mentioned Rachel Held Evans. Rachel was raised in an evangelical Christian family. Her father was a pastor and professor at a Christian college in Tennessee. Her whole life and education was bathed in the climate of evangelical Christianity. She was grateful for that foundation, but, as she moved into adulthood, experiencing life outside that sheltered environment, getting married, having children, she began to ask questions of her faith, she began raising questions about and to God. She wrote a blog. She wrote NYT best sellers. She was a much-sought-after preacher. Rachel’s books and blogs are rich and humorous and insightful. She can make you laugh til you cry. She can be blunt. She can make the pages just sing with warmth and beauty. But, as she pushed the margins of her traditional faith, particularly the beliefs about women’s roles in the church, she suffered terrible, hate-filled insults. Her church condemned her work. Friends fell away. She was on that not-so-easy path many of us fear when saying yes to Jesus. A few years ago, during an especially difficult time, Rachel took up a new practice for Lent. She turned her hate mail into Origami. This is what she said about it: “As much as I try to ignore the most vile of these messages, they can still be quite painful, and I think that’s okay. It’s important to grow thick skin, but I also want to keep a tender, open heart…which means unclenching my fists and letting some of these words hurt every now and again.” At the end of her Lenten journey, Rachel wrote: “What I learned, turning my hate mail into origami, is that we’re meant to remake this world together. We’re meant to hurt together, heal together, forgive together, and create together. And, in a sense, even the people who continue to hate me and call me names are a part of this beautiful process. Their words, carelessly spoken, spent the last 40 days in my home- getting creased and folded, worked over…stepped on by a toddler, read by my sister, stained with coffee…blacked out, thrown away, turned into poems, and folded into sailboats and cranes and pigeons that now sit smiling at me from my office window.” Jesus said, “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” I kinda doubt you and I have ever received the volume of hate mail Rachel Evans did. But, I’d bet we could all name someone or something, that hurt us or made us miserable. I sure have. And, this is saying the quiet part out loud… I hang onto nasty emails and memos and evaluations for a long time, I pull them out and stew over them, maybe shed a few tears and vow …you get the drift. Then the risen Christ shows up, throws open the locked door, throws up the shade, and says, “It’s time to get out there and be a sign of God’s amazing love. You’re familiar with the stories. And I know you have a full tank!” Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Blessing The risen Christ says: Peace be with you. We have seen the Lord! Alleluia! May you be filled with all joy and hope in believing. Amen. *Postlude Announcements Tithes and Offerings, including contributions for One Great Hour of Sharing, may be deposited in the offering plates at the conclusion of worship. The Session meets following worship. Leading worship today Elder of the Month Jon-Tyler Roach Organist and Choir Director Mark Baker Pastor Cinda Harkless Worship resources: Glory to God, Westminster John Knox Press, 2013; The Book of Common Worship, Westminster John Knox Press, 1993; Daily Prayer, Westminster Press, 1987. Welcome and Announcements
Call to Worship Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia! Hymn 232 Jesus Christ Is Risen Today Text: Stanza 1, Lyra Davidica, 1708; Stanza 4, Charles Wesley,1740 Music: Lyra Davidica, 1708 Jesus Christ is risen today, Alleluia! Our triumphant holy day, Alleluia! Who did once upon the cross, Alleluia! Suffer to redeem our loss, Alleluia! Sing we to our God above, Alleluia! Praise eternal as God’s love, Alleluia! Praise our God, ye heavenly host, Alleluia! Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! Affirmation of Faith O Christ, in your resurrection, The heavens and earth rejoice, Alleluia! By your resurrection you broke open the gates of hell and destroyed sin and death. Keep us victorious over sin. By your resurrection, you raised the dead, and brought us from death to life. Guide us in the way of eternal life. By your resurrection you confounded your guards and executioners, and filled your disciples with joy. Give us joy in your service. By your resurrection you proclaimed good news to the women and apostles, and brought salvation to the whole world. Direct our lives as your new creation. God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead. for he is alive and has become the Lord of life. From the waters of death, you raise us with him and renew the gift of life within us. Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ, and help us grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you, through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen. Hymn 232 Jesus Christ Is Risen Today But the pains which he endured, Alleluia! Our salvation have procured, Alleluia! Now above the sky he’s King, Alleluia! Where the angels ever sing, Alleluia! Sing we to our God above, Alleluia! Praise eternal as his love, Alleluia! Praise him, all you heavenly host, Alleluia! Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Alleluia! A Time for Young Disciples Scripture Reading John 20:1-18 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went straight to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in. The Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have taken him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not hold onto me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. The Message He is risen! He is risen indeed! O death, where is your victory? O grave, where is your sting? This is the day, Easter Sunday, the feast of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, that we’ve been waiting to celebrate since March of last year. When I first learned of the merciless Corona Virus, it was in the church office. Besides serving us, Jessica was teaching a number of Chinese students on-line. They were reporting their experiences with this mysterious illness. Lonely and isolated. Sad. Scared. Soon, Jessica was becoming a counselor, or more accurately, their “con-sol-er.” One of the students hadn’t been out of the house for two months. Unthinkable. Two months? Almost overnight, the unthinkable arrived on our doorstep. And overnight, it seems, we were isolated, sad, and scared. Some of us were sick. Some of us didn’t come out of our homes for two months…or longer. Did you anticipate how our lives would change? I certainly didn’t. As a pastor, I kept anticipating that the governor’s “safer at home” order would lifted. We would pick up in the middle of Lent, which would lead to a glorious Easter with long-necked trumpeting lilies and children racing through the church yard in search of colored eggs. But, as Lent lurched on, the reprieve didn’t come. We stayed in our homes and worshiped on-line. Speaking only for myself, I felt a deep sense of loss. Because we are people of faith, we did what we always do on Easter: we read the scriptures, sang a couple of verses of “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” Ed and I even had a surprise visit from a socially distant Easter Bunny. We knew what was wrong: we missed our family and our faith community. The resurrection of Christ is the foundation on which we stand, and we stand with the great cloud of witnesses, in heaven and on earth. Don’t tell anybody, but, to me, it felt like we had left Jesus in the tomb. It has taken me a year to make peace with that last statement. It felt like we had left Jesus in the tomb. Apparently, I was not alone. One of today’s young preachers, Sarah Bessey, says she felt a profound sense of grief on Easter last year. That was completely reasonable. She had recently lost a dear friend and now the whole world was in the valley of the shadow of death. A year later, things are turning around, we are adapting, we’re being vaccinated, it’s less of a threat now to go out in public, to come to church. But we have a long way to go. It takes a lot of emotional energy to sing joyous Easter hymns when so much of the world is still in the dark, when death still stings. And even when Covid-19 is no longer a threat, we will always have assaults to our well-being, challenges to our faith. So, today let’s find something to hold onto. Episcopal priest, Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “As many years as I have been listening to Easter sermons, I have never heard anyone talk about that part. Resurrection is always announced with Easter lilies, the sound of trumpets, bright streaming light. But it did not happen that way. If it happened in a cave, it happened in complete silence, in absolute darkness, with the smell of damp stone and dug earth in the air. Sitting deep in the heart of Organ Cave, I let this sink in: new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.” Bessey says, It is in the dark that new life begins and began and is beginning. Still. But when darkness comes, we don’t always think of the protection of a mother’s dark womb or tulip bulbs growing in the silent earth. In Psalm 137, when God’s people were in Babylonian exile, they lamented, “By the rivers of Babylon we sat down and wept…How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” How true that is. We know who we are. God is the ground of our being. We know the scriptures, the hymns, the affirmations, all by heart. But, still, how can we sing the songs of the Lord when our mother is dying? Or when our teenager gets a DUI? Or when we have denied Christ by our own actions? How in the world can we sing the songs of the Lord in a Covid ward? We find this guidance in Scripture: When Jesus found his beloved friend, Lazarus, dead, he didn’t sing. He cried. Jesus knew darkness, too. As I was working on this message, an image came to me of a place I haven’t been in over 20 years. My in-laws had a family camp in Pocahontas County. My husband and kids loved it. I wasn’t a fan. Except at night. Pitch black. Deep, velvety darkness, made more beautiful by millions of stars. When a cloud passed over, it was like illuminating heaven itself. Jesus is light in the darkness. Jesus is the Light of the world. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And in his resurrection is the promise of ours. We affirm that in every baptism. If we are buried in the baptismal waters like Jesus, we will be raised to new life in a resurrection like his. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, “That’s what baptism in the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered into the water, we left the old country of sin behind; when we came up out of the water, we entered into the new country of grace- a new life in a new land!” One of the things I love about Sarah Bessey and her good friend, the late Rachel Held Evans, is that they are bold preachers who speak with frank honesty and with a spirit of humility. They say out loud what most of us can’t: that some days we are unwavering believers. But sometimes we have doubts. Bessey writes, “And Jesus is – still, now, always-the resurrection and the life. And on the days when I believe this, it changes everything. On the days when I believe this, I am certain we will also be resurrected and death will not have the final word and all tears will be wiped away and there will be no more night, no more hunger, no more wounding, no more loss, no more good-byes. On the days when I believe this, I believe death is a dawn and never the last word. On the days when I believe this, I know the miracle is that God knows the dark and the sorrow just like we do. On the days when I believe this, I believe that ongoing hope of resurrection changes how we engage in our lives as they stand right now as we love and know and walk with God who brings life out of death, order out of chaos, healing out of sickness, wholeness out of brokenness. On the days when I believe this, I know God isn’t finished with this Story yet. But there are days when I don’t believe it. And on those, I have this: God With Us, Emmanuel. This Easter, it may be all some of us have. We can’t quite get to resurrection and life yet but in that place of exile, we can rest alongside God With Us, which is our country of grace for today.” Our three-year-old grandson was out of school Friday, so he spent the day with his dad. All documented by iphone camera. We have pictures of Tad at breakfast, and the playground, and playing with the dog, and eating a lumberjack-sized hamburger at an outdoor café. Then there was this: “Do you know the muffin man, the muffin man, the muffin man. Do you know the muffin man…who… Do you know the muffin man…who… He couldn’t get to the last line, so he says, “Sing it with me, Daddy!” “You mean, Do you know the muffin man? That one?” “Yes! Yes! Sing that song with me!” And they sang it to the end. Together. Because that’s the way we open the shutters, cast off the pall, hold hands, and make it to the country of grace for today. And may you dwell in the country of grace this and every day. Amen. Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer Living God, You have opened our eyes to see the glory of this new day; now open our lips to tell of the empty tomb; open our hearts to believe the Good News; and strengthen us in body and spirit to carry your message of hope into the world, In your mercy, heal the suffering, mend our brokenness, restore our relationships, save us from hostility and harsh judgments, show us our purpose, impart wisdom to those in the halls of governments, and bring peace to your world. We pray for ourselves, giving thanks for your sustaining love that has comforted us in our pain and blessed us with occasions of joy. We lift our prayers as Jesus taught us, saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen. Hymn Low In the Grave He Lay (He Arose) Robert Lowry, 1874 Low in the grave he lay, Jesus my Savior, waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord. Up from the grave he arose, with a mighty triumph o’er his foes; he arose the victor of the dark domain, and he lives forever with his saints to reign. He arose! He arose! Hallelujah! Christ arose! Vainly they watch his bed, Jesus my Savior; vainly they seal the dead, Jesus my Lord! Refrain Death cannot keep its prey, Jesus my Savior; he tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord! Refrain Blessing Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! *Postlude Announcements You may notice some changes in worship this morning. They have been made to better assure our health and safety. We hope to return to a fuller service soon. We ask that the congregation refrain from singing at this time. Choir members will sing the hymns from a safe distance from those in the pews. In order for those joining us from home to be included in worship, volunteers are needed to record the service each week. Please notify any of our elders or contact our pastor, Cinda Harkless, 304.634.5831, right away if you are available. Tithes and offerings may be placed in the offering plates provided at the end of the service. Next Sunday, April 11, we will receive the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering, one of the special offerings of the PCUSA. Thank you message from the Frost family here Assisting in worship today Elder of the Month Jon-Tyler Roach Organist and Choir Director Mark Baker Assisting with music Choir members Recording Worship Jessica Kidd Pastor Cinda Harkless |
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July 2024
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