​Prelude
Welcome and Announcements
*Call to Worship                                                   Joshua 24:15
Choose this day whom you will serve.
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
 
*Hymn  321    The Church’s One Foundation
 
Gathering Prayer
O, Lord, our God,
wellspring of all that is,
you are the sea on which we float,
the wind that fills our sails,
the storm that buffets,
the calm that brings us peace.
Open our ears to hear your word,
our eyes to see your beauty,
our hearts to be warmed by your love.
Free us from the bonds of sin and selfishness,
and make us over to be bearers of your joy and peace.  Amen.
 
Hymn           Take, O Take Me As I Am
 
First Reading       Exodus 1:8-2:10
 
Time With Our Young Disciples
 
Second Reading    Matthew 16:13-20
Morning Message     
 
It’s that time of year again…driving along Fifth or Sixth Avenues in downtown Huntington and you see college students and their parents, or whoever they could recruit to help them, dragging boxes, trunks, laundry baskets, guitars, and more into the dorms and apartments that line the streets. Moving in or out is a hard job.  Most of us have experienced it. I’d love to move closer to our family in North Carolina, but, all I have to do is take one look in the garage…and I am over that notion.
 
Rev. Janet Hunt is a Lutheran pastor in the Midwest. She writes that she was moving into a new home in a new town. Her mother had come to help pack, move, unpack and settle into her new place. They had been at it all day and were growing very tired. After several hours work, Janet’s mother headed to the bathroom. Janet sat down in a favorite comfortable chair and promptly fell asleep. She says she doesn’t know how long she was out, but she awoke to the sound of knocking and her mother calling her name.
 
She jumped up, and headed upstairs to the bathroom where her mother was trapped behind a locked door. She had been trying for several minutes, but the knob would not turn. Janet tried it from her side and still it wouldn’t budge.
 
So, Janet found some tools and proceeded to take the doorknob off. But since it was still attached on the other side, that , too, failed. Janet briefly thought about calling for help, but, she didn’t know her neighbors yet. She thought about calling the fire department, but, that seemed a little extreme.
 
So, she resorted to drastic measures: she traded her screwdriver for a hammer and proceeded to pound away at the handle. After a few minutes of this pursuit, her mother tried the handle again and it gave way and the door swung open. Free at last.
 
You’ve been there. You’ve been locked in or out or a key was misplaced. One of my family members was starting their car one day and the key broke off in the ignition. When Ed and I bought our first house, we went to the closing and when all the papers had been signed, the realtor handed us the keys while suppressing a laugh…the house we bought had four doors. Front, back, side and garage. We were handed four keys…one regular-looking door key…and three skeleton keys. No kidding. We knew then what would be Job #1.
 
Maybe we haven’t been trapped behind a locked door or had to resort to anything as drastic and destructive as what Janet did, but I think it’s safe to say we have all come up against something we couldn’t easily get through or around and we do whatever we can with the resources we have to get to the other side.
 
In our text, Jesus speaks not only to Peter, but, we believe, to us in our time, not of doors neccessarily, but of keys-keys which we understand hold a promise to open up, to reveal, that which is locked. These keys can make way for us to enter a place, or to understand mysteries that have, up to now, been unavailable to us. Keys to freedom and hope, for these are the keys to the Kingdom of God.
 
And Jesus tied these keys to something he has come to teach us…these keys are tied to forgiveness, grace. We freely receive God’s grace. But, grace does not, or should not stop with us. In gratitude for grace given, we can do none other than extend it ourselves.
 
Forgiveness, or the lack of it, carries eternal consequences. You know this. We all bear scars. We are all acquainted with sin, in its many forms. Maybe we are mistreated, or someone we love has been hurt. Maybe justice, as we understand it, was not served following some wrong done.
 
Maybe life has treated you or a loved one unfairly  Sometimes the wound is so great, so confounding and complex, we have to blame someone and God is the most convenient someone.
And, you know what, that’s ok. God can take it and work with it and help you cope.
 
One of the most compelling accounts of forgiveness shown in place of blame is that of the community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. You remember the story: This is an Amish community. A local man, who bore a grudge against God, entered the village’s one room schoolhouse one morning, where he assaulted and killed many of the young students.
 
Can we even imagine the horror? The depth of that pain?  Innocent children lost their lives for no reason. The children of peaceful people of faith. How would they go on?
 
Well, they went on by gathering together, expressing their grief, remembering their precious children. And then they did something truly remarkable: church elders visited in the home of the man who had committed this atrocious act, meeting with his widow, for he had taken his own life after taking the lives of the children. They expressed their concern for his family, his wife and little children.
 
They made the decision to forgive, to extend the grace of God, to the one who had taken so much from them. Their faith demanded it.
 
There was a movie made of this incident. Near the end, viewers see the community gathered at the graves of the Amish children. And then we see the lonely image of the shooter’s widow, babe in arms, sobbing at her husband’s grave. And then the camera is trained on a remarkable sight: men, women, and children, in that signature black and blue garb of the Amish, coming to bear witness to this young mother’s grief and pain.
 
Grief and pain are emotions with which we are all familiar.
 
A year or so ago, there was a terrible incident near our home. Law enforcement officers were attempting to serve a warrant on a resident and the whole thing went wrong. The one who had presumably committed a crime was shot and killed. There was a great deal of reporting that all came off with a “he got what he deserved” tone.
 
I happened to run into someone who lives right across the street from where the incident occurred. She was horrible shaken. With a trembling voice, she said something like “Everyone is focused on the crimes he committed. We’ll never really know the truth of that because of the way it ended. But we do know this: last night, a mother lost her son.”
 
That level of empathy can lead to real transformation. Bearing witness to one another’s sorrow and need.  And so can sharing in one another’s blessings. A good example of that was yesterday’s dinner at the Senior Center. I think I was there about two hours. I know some of you were there much longer than that.
 
Coming home, I was reflecting on our time together, and I was thinking about what was unlocked that made the day so pleasant. I realized I had not heard or witnessed anything in that brief time but good will, fellowship, community.
 
It was a spiritual experience. I was thinking about something to compare it to.  Communion in noodles and sauce? Well, maybe, I do believe there is something sacred in every meal. Even if we set a place for one, we are always in the presence of the unseen guest.
 
I think it was more like a foot washing. Grace lavished upon one another. And grace is underrated.
 
 
* Hymn   Long Ago When Pharoah’s Daughter           Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
*Affirmation of Faith    p. 38, #4,  A Brief Statement of Faith, PCUSA, 1991
*Hymn 581        Gloria Patri    
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Pastoral Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer
 
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings
Offertory
*Hymn  607   Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication
Almighty God, from whom all blessings flow, may you find us ever-thankful for the abundance of your gifts. Accept these offerings as signs of our thanks and praise. May they serve to strengthen our commitment to know, love, and serve you this and every day. Amen.
 
*Hymn   462    I Love to Tell the Story
 
*Blessing
And now, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all,
now and always.  Amen.
 
*Postlude

​Prelude
Welcome and Announcements             
 
*Call to Worship
Look to the mountains! Look to the hills!
Love comes to us with joy!
The world is filled with beauty.
Flowers appear on the earth, birdsong brightens the day.
Crops yield their produce in abundance,
The air is filled with sweetness.
The summer of God’s love is with us.
Let the oil of gladness anoint your souls.
Arise and sing for joy!
 
*Hymn 14           For the Beauty of the Earth
 
Prayer of Confession
God of justice and righteousness,
your call beckons us:
to live faithful lives,
to turn from wickedness,
to walk in your ways.
Yet it is easy to turn aside:
to speak a thoughtless word,
to ignore those in need,
to strike out in anger,
to forget your ways.
Forgive us.
Implant your word in our hearts,
and cleanse us from all evil.
By the power of your love,
save us, that we might fully love and serve you.  Amen.
 
*Hymn   698   Take, O Take Me as I Am
Assurance of Forgiveness
God’s word has the power to save us.
God has anointed us with gladness,
forgiven and freed us,
to live holy and joyful lives.    Alleluia! Amen.
 
First Reading     Psalm 133  
Time With Our Young Disciples
Second Reading               Matthew 15:21-28          
Morning Message
 
One of the things we thought we would miss while we were in Scotland was the Olympics. We shouldn’t have worried about it. The Scots love the Olympics, too, and while we didn’t see all the competition, we did get the highlights each day. So, we kept up.
 
At the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, ten refugee athletes from four countries competed together as the Refugee Olympic Team. Among them were two swimmers, two judokas, a marathoner, and five medium-distance runners.
 
Ten young women and men who fled their home countries in search of competition. Ten talented athletes who never gave up. Their participation was a tribute to the courage and perseverance of all refugees.
 
As part of the commitment to aiding potential elite athletes affected by the world refugee crisis, the International Olympic Committee asked National Olympic Committees around the world to identify athletes with the potential to qualify for the Rio Olympic Games. Such candidates would then receive funding from  Olympic Solidarity to assist in their preparations and qualification efforts.
 
Forty-three promising candidates were identified and ten were eventually selected to make up the first-ever refugee team. Serving as a symbol of hope for refugees worldwide and bringing global attention to the refugee crisis, they marched and competed under the Olympic flag.
 
Their athletic prowess and resilience was a tribute to the courage and determination of all refugees- at a time when the number of people displaced by violence and persecution was at the highest level since World War II.
 
What an inspiration.
 
They entered a process with hopes and dreams and I’m sure, not a little anxiety. Did they know exactly what they would encounter? Did they anticipate sacrifices or danger ahead? We don’t know. What we do know is that they stepped out on a global stage, trusting in the help of strangers, for a global cause.
It is with that sense of hope that I read this Hebrews text. It’s not a very pretty story, is it? It recalls the fates of the faithful, many who suffered and died for the cause of Christ. By word and deed, time and space, the faith was passed on through the villages and towns and across oceans and deserts, and up unforgiving mountains, and into dense dark jungles, until the gospel came to us.
 
In our text, the author lifts up some of our most courageous heroes and heroines of the faith. If we would go back and read their stories, we would find some unlikely characters for bearing the banner of Christ, and yet, God used them to lead others to freedom, to fight enemies of God and God’s people, to find a homeland, and more.
 
For example, take Gideon. He was an altogether reluctant warrior. He lacked confidence in his own ability and asked the Lord to prove it was really the Lord talking to him at all.  (Judges 6:8)
 
Barak refused to go to battle without Deborah at his side, which you know was not the norm in that day. But, for all his courage, for his willingness to put his life on the line, he learned that at the end of this battle the honor would go to someone else. (Judges 4). And yet he stepped up for God.
 
Samson may well have been strong in body, but we have to wonder if he weren’t a little lacking in his intellect.(Judges 16).
 
Jephthah, though described as a mighty warrior, essentially traded the life of his only child, his daughter, for a military victory. (Judges 11).
 
David was the ideal king for the nation of Israel, but he committed adultery and arranged the death of Bathsheba’s husband so he could take his place. (2 Samuel 11:1-12, 25).
 
In Joshua 2, we read the story of Rahab. She was a Cannanite woman living in Jericho. Before the conquest of Jericho, Joshua sends two men as spies to see the land. They cometo Rahab’s house for lodging. The king, hearing that they are at Rahab’s house, demands that she give them up, which would mean certain death. Rahab defies the king and and rescues the Israelites. She hides them under the flax drying on her roof, She lets the men out through her window, which is in the town wall. She asks that she and her family be spared once the Israelites attack Jericho. The spies give her a crimson thread to hang from her window, telling her to gather her family and wait inside the house. So long as they stayed inside the house marked with the red thread, they would be spared. And indeed they were.
 
And for all her courage and ingenuity, we almost always call this woman, “Rahab, the Prostitute.” As if her profession rendered her faith defective.
 
All these characters were less than perfect. That gives me hope and confidence.  
 
Today’s problems and challenges are deep and complicated and we wonder if have the skill or the will or the strength or the intellect to address many of them. Well, the truth is, we don’t have the resources to resolve all the world’s threats. But, God’s people are everywhere across the globe, lacing up their shoes for whatever race is set before them. We are a cloud of witnesses, going wherever God’s Spirit leads.
 
Awhile back, I met Callie, a twenty-seven-year-old immunologist working at Wake Forest Medical School. Callie works long hours and weeks, and is joined by a number of other young laboratory scientists who are investigating childhood diseases. They then build medical models to eradicate the diseases. Callie’s from Australia, a home she didn’t see for over two years, thanks to the pandemic. Still, her spirit is kind and cheerful and sociable, and sometimes, wistful. She misses her family. She misses her home and walks along the near-by beach.  
 
Callie’s race has far to go. Kind of like the Marine Corps Marathon. But her life has meaning and quality while she works toward her goal. Her purpose is clear and noble. She has others with whom to share it. She has been a wonderful friend to my daughter and I believe that gift is mutual.
 
What about your race? What is God setting before you? What is God setting before us? Sometimes we have to just think about the race we will run today and how we will approach it. Maybe that’s even too long.
 
I’ve had Covid twice. Before I realized I had it, I had started out on a grocery trip. When I couldn’t push the buggy to the front of the store, I called my husband for help. I was short of breath and close to tears. He came immediately, took over, and sent me home. He finished my race that day.
 
Those ten Olympic athletes had no country, no funds, no voice, no entry into the premier event for which they had trained. Until people with vision and compassion and courage and strength stepped up to make it happen. The great crowd of witnesses, of which scripture speaks.
 
As we look toward the goal that is set before us in the near or distant future, we are called to keep our eyes focused on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who gave his very life that we might live.
 
I’m no athlete. But, I will lift high his flag, his cross, my whole life long. And I’m hoping you will, too.
 
 
*Hymn  693   Though I May Speak
*Affirmation of Faith             The Apostles’ Creed p. 35
*Hymn   Gloria Patri
 
Sharing Our Joys and Concerns
Prayers of the People and the Lord’s Prayer
Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings
Offertory
*Hymn 607  Doxology
*Prayer of Dedication
God of light and beauty, every gift is from you.
Even our ability to give is a blessing of your love.
We offer what we have and what we are that you may use our gifts
to give birth to a world of peace and understanding,
where none are in need,
and all are drawn into your embrace.  Amen.
 
*Hymn   692           Spirit, Open My Heart
*Blessing
In everything, let us offer our thanks to God.
In our darkness and questioning,
in our relief and rejoicing,
in the assurance that God holds us in love,
that we may cheerfully serve others,
replacing fear with the hope born of Eternal Love.  Amen.
 
*Postlude