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Prelude
Welcome and Announcements *Call to Worship Psalm 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in the Lord and celebrate his goodness with each new sunrise. *Hymn 37 Let All Things Now Living *Prayer of the Day, Including Confession Almighty God, as we begin a new program year, we pray for your blessing on the church in this place. Here may the faithful find salvation, and the careless be awakened. Here may the doubting find faith, and the anxious be encouraged. Here may the tempted find help, and the sorrowful comfort. Here may the weary find rest, and the strong be renewed. Here may the aged find consolation and the young be inspired. In the quiet of this hour, may we recall the events of the past week, seek and offer forgiveness where needed, and place ourselves securely in the arms of your grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. *Hymn Take, O Take Me As I Am *Assurance of Forgiveness The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. Know your sins are forgiven and be at peace. Special Presentation Old Testament Reading Time for Young Disciples New Testament Reading The Morning Message We Americans love our sports. And right now its football time. Friday night lights, Game Day Saturday, Football Sunday Night, (And afternoon), Monday Night Football, and my personal favorite…Monday Night Football on Thursday nights. After the Mounties lost yesterday to Pitt, we changed our colors to orange and white for a Tennessee family member and finally black and gold for Wake Forest, where our daughter is, but the deacons have obviously neglected their prayer life because they bombed. Travel a wee bit up the road to the high school, and it gets even better for sports fans: football, soccer, volleyball, Cross Country, and cheerleading are all in full motion. I don’t know what season heralds the arrival of wrestling, swimming, and archery, tennis, and golf. Maybe one of you can enlighten me. As I was thinking about all these opportunities and exhibitions of human strength and discipline and beauty, and, let’s face it, youth, I began to see them not as individual sports. Instead, I began to see more clearly what they all have in common: strength and competition, adrenalin. It seems to me, it’s the thrill, the potentiality present in competition, in contest, that energizes these games, matches, and meets. Who wins and who loses and all the drama leading up to the final moments. We’re in love with it. We all want to be on the winning side of the field. We all want to feel the excitement, if only in our dreams, of seeing star athletes wearing tennis whites at Wimbledon. Maybe we don’t have to be taught to compete. It just unfurls from somewhere in our nature. I’ve shared this before, but, it fits today: Awhile back, we met our daughter and son-in-law and grandson at a particular store at the mall. Ed and I parked and walked to the entrance to wait on the others. They were right behind us. We parked and then we heard a car door slam with a little more force than necessary and the next thing we knew, our three year old grandson stomps up to his grandfather and announces, “I’m so angry with you, PaPaw. You beat us.” Well, of course, we did the wrong thing and laughed, which made him madder. Reconciliation came by way of a big toy shark tucked under Tad’s arm as he and his granddad walked through the store. He’s almost seven now and a karate student where he learns to compete with himself. In our text, we find the disciples jockeying for position. Position is another word for power. A hierarchy of power helps us organize civilization and all its sub-sets. Think about the many ways we experience this daily. Where we work, where we shop, how we do our banking, our tv viewing- and what time all these things- all of these things come to us through some system of production and delivery. Someone has to be the decider. There are a lot of deciders in our life. I worked at a drug store in high school and college. Aclassmate of mine was higher up the ladder. He got more hours and maybe a few cents per hour than I did. Why? Because he made the home deliveries, in the owner’s car. Being the delivery boy was a sought after position and when there was a vacancy it was a big deal. Competition exists everywhere. There were no females in the competition in 1974. In our text, the disciples are just having a conversation. It may not have been academic, so much as just “shooting the breeze.” But, Jesus hears them and it is what he does next that tells us the most about who Jesus is in this setting. What Jesus doesn’t do is settle the argument. Nor does he placate all of them, saying, “Now, now, you’re ALL my favorite.” No. Jesus bends down and picks up a little child, maybe a child of one of the disciples’ own. And he says, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Children occupied an interesting place in the first century household for Jews and Romans alike. They represented the future, carrying on the family name, providing for their aging parents, and producing the next generation. But, in the present, they were a liability. They were one more mouth to feed. The younger the child, the more likely they were to become sick and die. They participated in household labor, but weren’t all that productive. Many historians believe that children were on about an equal status with a slave. They had no power. And there was no school system or children’s hospital to look after them nor CPS to report cases of abuse or neglect. And Jesus said we must welcome people such as these powerless, vulnerable, defenseless children. Once again, Jesus turns our expectations upside down. It is a great reversal in the name of justice. The adult conversation is about power and position. Jesus transforms it into a lesson on welcome and hospitality, and compassion. In the fall of 2021 there were four babies about to be born in my extended family. They will be celebrated, wrapped in the softest blankets and cutest sleepers. They will have nurseries stocked with all the necessities. Their care will be the subject of many a conversation. You know the drill:how will she be fed? Is he sleeping thru the night? Will Mom or Dad go back to work? How soon? Before long, they will be vaccinated and educated and enrolled in piano lessons and signed up for one of those great American icons of competition…T-ball. And it is a good thing. A good and full life with parents who love and guide and discipline and protect. Protection that far too many children will never experience, which is a tragedy. I like to purchase books for the grandchildren to read when they visit. I bought one that they are not yet ready to hear. The author is Rachel Denhollander, and the book is about the abuse she suffered as a young gymnast. What Is a Girl Worth? That’s the title and it’s relevant to our scripture text today. That’s what it comes down to, the question behind the question: how much is a child, boy or girl, worth? The Olympics occupied us for a couple of weeks this summer. Many of us love the gymnastics competitions. Four elite US gymnasts testified before the US Senate sometime back. These are athletes that we’ve seen and cheered for when they represented the country at the Olympics. They all testified to the hideous abuse they endured by their team doctor. They told their parents, they complained, some of them not even old or experienced enough to know what was happening to them. The complaints went nowhere. Investigations were cursory, if they were conducted at all. They girls were silenced, ridiculed, their abuse diminished. The result was disastrous. The abuser had unfettered contact with dozens of young children before he was stopped. This was a sick power system that de-valued children, little girls in this case. Even as adults, the young women who testified described the lasting effects of the physical and psychological violence done to them. They are now seeking justice from a justice system that was woefully broken. Who is the greatest? Well, greatness, in Jesus’ economy, or his power structure, doesn’t come from competitions won on the field or in the classroom or boardroom. Greatness is wrapped up in humility. Like those swaddling clothes in which Mary wrapped Jesus. Greatness recognizes who the vulnerable are. Greatness points the way to hope. Greatness rises up with courage and compassion to defend the weak. Greatness calls us to look out for the welfare of those who can least affect their own welfare. In this text, it is children, but, it could be anyone, even elite, privileged, and celebrated athletes. Power can be used for evil when it seeks to dominate, humiliate, and demean. Power can be used for the benefit of those who have little of it. My cousin has worked for years as a nurse in the Neo-natal abstinence unit of one of our hospitals. Babies born to substance-abusing mothers. It’s an expensive, labor-intensive process. These are babies with so many challenges before them. Cognitive, physiological, and social. They need more support than other newborns and someone had to decide to meet those needs. And that decision gives these innocent newborns an improved start in life and with that comes hope for a hopeful future. So, we look for the right use of power. So, I hope you enjoy the smaorgasbord of sport this week. Cheer for your teams. May the best ones win. But, remember competition has no place in the kingdom of God. In the early churches of Paul’s day, there were some mighty power struggles. He wrote to them, advising them with these wise words: Love one another with brotherly, sisterly, affection. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Jesus Christ, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God. Finally, aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace and the God of love and peace will be with you. May it be so for all of you. Amen. *Hymn 724 O Jesus, I Have Promised *Affirmation of Faith 1 Corinthians 15:1-6; Matthew 16:16; Mark 16:9; John 20:28; Revelation 22:13 This is the good news which we have received, in which we stand, and by which we were saved, if we hold it fast: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, and that he appeared first to the women, then to Peter, then to the Twelve, and then to many witnesses. We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. Jesus Christ is the first and the last, the beginning and the end; He is our Lord and our God. Amen. Sharing Our Joys and Concerns Pastoral Prayer Presenting Our Tithes and Offerings Offertory *Hymn Doxology *Hymn 443 There Is a Redeemer *Blessing 2 Corinthians 13:14 May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. *Postlude Comments are closed.
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PastorCinda Harkless Archives
April 2025
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