READING: Exodus 19:2-6; Romans 5:1-6; and Matthew 9:35 - 10:8
SERMON : "Received Without Payment"
Rev. Richard J. Fairchild
a-or11sn.y-a 839
The following is a more or less complete liturgy and sermon
for the upcoming Sunday. Hymn numbers, designated as VU are
found in the United Church of Canada Hymnal "Voices United".
SFPG is "Songs For A Gospel People", also available from the UCC.
The Prayer of The Day and Prayer of Dedication is taken
and modified from John Maynard (maynard@SYMPAC.COM.AU)
"Prayers and Litanies for Ordinary 11" as sent to the
PRCL-List, June 1999). The children's story was derived
from Ann Sutton's "Ameoba Tag" as sent to
"childrens-sermons-l@teleport.com" Nov 16 98. The Sermon
starters came from "First Impressions Volume 1 Sunday 11A
6-13-99" by Jude Siciliano, O.P.
GATHERING AND MUSICAL PRELUDE (* = please stand)
* WORDS OF WELCOME AND CALL TO WORSHIP (based on Psalm 100)
L The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
P And also with you.
L Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth!
P We will worship the Lord with gladness.
We will come before God with joyful songs.
L The Lord is God. It is God who made and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
P We enter God's gates with thanksgiving.
We come to God's courts with praise.
L The Lord is good and his love endures forever.
God's faithfulness continues through all generations.
* INTROIT: "What Does The Lord Require of You" (VU-701)
* PRAYER OF INVOCATION:
Gracious and giving God, you have poured out upon us the fullness
of your mercy and love. You have bestowed upon us every good
thing of earth, sea, and sky. Your Spirit has anointed us and
your Son has blessed us. You chose us from the beginning of the
world and you have continued in faithfulness to us even when we
have not been faithful to you. We praise you and thank you, O
God, and together as your people we call upon your name this day
and ask you to bless us that we might be a blessing unto you. As
we have received, so help us to give - we ask it through the most
holy name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
* HYMN: "Praise To The Lord" - SFGP 17
CHILDREN'S TIME:
Object: Amoeba Tag
Theme: A Covenant People
Source: Self & Ann Sutton for "Ameba Tag" as sent to
"childrens-sermons-l@teleport.com" Nov 16 98)
Today I want to play with you all a little game called Ameba Tag.
Have any of you ever played it? This is a variation on a game
of tag. Now I need one person (depending on your numbers, you
could have two folk being "it")
Now, when I say ready, set go, the rest must scatter as I count
to five, then you must freeze where you are. "It" will then come
and tag each one. As each one is tagged they have to move as a
group to the next child until everyone is tagged....
Do the count etc.
Just when they think it is the end of the game show them that
there is a whole church full of adults to include...
What do you think? Kind of fun isn't it. And think about this,
there is a whole community out there to be touched - and if each
one acts as part of "it" pretty soon the whole world would be
included.
That is the way it is supposed to be for both Jew and Christian.
We are called by God to be his people - to be a nation of priests
- of bridges between God and the world, to be ones who go out and
tag people for Jesus.
PRAYER AND THE LORD'S PRAYER
Loving God - Touch Us With Your Love - and through us - touch
our family and our friends - this until the whole world -
follows in your path of healing - we ask it in Jesus' name Amen"
And in the word's Jesus taught us, let us pray together as his
family 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 trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen
* HYMN: "Let There Be Peace On Earth" - SFGP 128
SHARING JOYS AND CONCERNS: ANNOUNCEMENTS AND SPECIAL MATTERS
- Welcome and Announcements
- Birthdays and Anniversaries
- Special Matters
- Sharing Joys and Concerns
INTROIT For The Word of God (please stay seated):
Open my ears, that I may hear voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wave notes fall on my ear, everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee, ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine! (VU 371 v.2 & refrain)
A READING FROM EXODUS 19:2-6
(NRSV) They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness
of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in
front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called
to him from the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house
of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the
Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to
myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant
you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed,
the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom
and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to
the Israelites."
L This is the Word of the Lord
P Thanks be to God.
RESPONSIVE READING: Psalm 116 (VU 836) and Sung Refrain
A READING FROM ROMANS 5:1-8
(NRSV) Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and
we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing
that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces
character, and character produces hope, and hope does not
disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our
hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous
person - though perhaps for a good person someone might actually
dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we
still were sinners Christ died for us.
L This is the Word of the Lord
P Thanks be to God.
* HYMN: "Amazing Grace" - SFGP 49
A READING FROM MATTHEW 9:35 - 10:8
(NRSV) Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages,
teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news
of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.
When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them,
because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a
shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is
plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the
Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest."
Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them
authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure
every disease and every sickness. These are the names of
the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and
his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother
John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax
collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon
the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions:
"Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the
Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of
heaven has come near.' Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse
the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment;
give without payment.
L This is the gospel of our Risen Lord.
P Praise be to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
SERMON: "Received Without Payment"
The following is a draft sermon - simply requiring some
polishing and intergration of the citations from Jude Siciliano.
"Gracious God - bless now the words of my lips and the
meditations of our hearts. Breath your Spirit into us and
grant that we may hear and in hearing be led in the way
you want us to go. Amen.
Last week we looked at the call to Abraham and Sarah to leave
home and family and to go to a land which God would show them and
to receive that land as a heritage from God. We looked at the
promises made to Abraham and Sarah - and I suggested that our
call - and the promise made to us - is the same as that of
Abraham and Sarah.
This week, in the Hebrew Scriptures, we see the descendants of
Abraham and Sarah gathered in the wilderness of Sinai and about
to enter into a covenant with God - where God promises to
continue to be their God - and to show them kindness upon
kindness - and they promise to obey God and to do what is asked
of them by God.
God addresses the people through Moses saying:
You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore
you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. {5} Now
therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you
shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples.
Indeed, the whole earth is mine, {6} but you shall be for
me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the
words that you shall speak to the Israelites."
-- start citation from Jude Siciliano, O.P.
The "THEREFORE" is important in the Exodus reading. God does not
start laying down conditions for the Israelites to follow and if
they do, God will love them The requirement to "hearken to (obey)
my voice and keep my covenant," comes only after a gracious deed
has been first done by God. God speaks a reminder to the people
to review with them what God had done for them. First God
chooses these enslaved people, delivers them from their
"masters", and leads them successfully out. They were carried
out of Egypt by God the way an eagle carries its young on her
wings when teaching it to fly. Now like eagles, these people
will soar. This is God's plan for them.
Only after they know the kind of God they have, is a pact
established that requires response from them. Now they are given
the choice to stay in relationship to the God. What they must do
is to heed God's voice and keep the covenant. The stress is
first on (the grace of) the covenant. We hear what God has done
for us and then we respond by keeping the relationship. In other
words, we accept the "therefore" because we have experienced what
preceded it.
--- end citation from Jude Siciliano, O.P.
This manner of gifting and responding - this covenant making
between God and the people of Israel - is more than an
interesting story from the history of the Mid-East. It is a
vivid portrayal of the essential pattern or design of God's
relationship to all people - even - and perhaps especially - to
the people who claim the name of Jesus Christ.
First we are loved - we are gifted or blessed - and second - we
are invited to respond to that love - to enter into a loving
relationship where even more blessings are promised.
God extends a promise - and a call to Abraham - to bless him.
Abraham decides to step on a journey of faith to see the
blessings come true.
God delivers the children of Israel from slavery - and he extends
a call to them - to bless them and through them the world.
Israel decides that this is indeed the best path.
God takes flesh in Christ Jesus - and he dies for us upon the
cross so that we might be set right with God - and invites us to
follow in his path, assisted by his presence - so that we might
indeed be whole - and the world with us.
And we respond by placing our trust in him - by being baptized
into his death and resurrection.
Gift, blessing, call -
and always it is a call to be blessed and to be a blessing
always it is a call to walk in harmony with God and God's family.
But notice the order of things.
Gift, blessing, call.
Freely says Jesus you have received. Freely give.
Gift, blessing, call.
We are loved
- first and foremost we are loved
There is nothing that we have to do to earn it
- there are no conditions made before God promises to make
Abraham a mighty nation
- there are no stipulations set forth before God sets the
children of Israel free from bondage
- there is not qualifications that have to be provided before
Jesus will agree to die on the cross for us.
Only afterwards is there any hint of a demand
- we are invited after the love is shown - to love in return,
to love and be loved.
Freely you have received, freely give.
Gift, blessing, call.
The call my friends is real. It is, as I said last week, a call
to journey to a place we know not. It is a call to trust and
obedience - knowing that the result of these things - of this
trust and obedience - is a blessed one. For us. For others.
For God.
Gift, blessing, call.
-- begin edited citation from Jude Siciliano, O.P.
A similar dynamic may be found in 12 step programs. People find
themselves in addictions from which they cannot get free. They
acknowledge their helplessness and surrender to a "higher power -
a power that is greater than they are and which is wholly able to
help us with our problem."
After these initial steps that start the process of liberation,
the person is required to follow through with steps that will
turn their lives around. They are in covenant and need to live
up to their responsibilities.
--- end citation from Jude Siciliano, O.P.
But consider it all.
God takes us as we are.
He loves us.
He promises to make a great nation of us,
to make us a nation of priests
a people through whom God - as in our children's story - touches
the world.
He is the one who sets his people free from bondage,
- the good and the bad - the kind and the mean - are
protected by the blood of the lamb.
He is the one who lays down his life for all,
- the one who eats and drinks with the sinners and brings
healing to the blind and the lame and those possessed by
demons
- he is the one who saw the crowds, and had compassion for
them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep
without a shepherd and asked the Lord of the harvest to send
out labourers into his harvest. - and then appointed his
disciples to proclaim the good news that, 'The kingdom of
heaven has come near.' and to cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.
He is the one who is wholly able to help us with our problem,
that problem we cannot solve on our own.
He is the one who is the beginning and the end,
the alpha and the omega,
our hope and our life.
And all we are called to do is to accept his gifts,
to accept his love, and to love in return.
To do those things that keep the relationship good
the relationship we have with God
- and with our neighbours
- and with ourselves.
Free you have received. Freely give.
So marvellous this teaching of Jesus
so marvellous this story of Israel,
this tale of the children of Abraham.
We are loved and gifted and blessed - and called
called into a life giving relationship
where the blessings multiply for us and through us for the world,
a relationship of trust and obedience
a relationship of joy and peace and wholeness.
Blessed be the name of God. Day by Day. Day by Day. Amen
---- Check out George Hartwell's Creative Closings - Ordinary 11 - Year A
for a different prayer or meditation with which to conclude the sermon
and/or lead into the prayer time below.
* HYMN: "Worship The Lord" - SFGP 116
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
Your Church was founded, Lord, on the Good News of God's Love in
Christ Jesus. Yet we confess to you Lord that we are often
unwilling disciples. We find it hard to proclaim Your Love to
others in word and deed. There are some people we don't even
want to love, or like, or help, or understand, or go through the
agony of forgiving. How can we give of ourselves to rescue
them? Yet you gave Christ for us in love. For His sake help us.
We need more than that reminder. We need you within us. We need
Your love driving us to proclaim the Gospel. Tie us to Christ by
Your loving power. Freely we have received. Freely, help us to
give.... Lord hear our prayer (and in your love answer).
O God, we want to be Your faithful servants, but sometimes we are
discouraged. The world is so big and there are so many people in
need. We don't know where to start. Help us to start where we
are. Help us to hear your voice guiding us - to see your hand
pointing the way. Freely we have received. Freely, help us to
give.... Lord, hear our prayer (and in your love answer)
O God, we want to make a difference, but sometimes we are
discouraged. The world is so powerful and we are unsure of
ourselves. We don't know where to start. Help us to start where
we are. Freely we have received. Freely, help us to give....
Lord hear our prayer (and in your love answer).
O God, Your kingdom has indeed come in Jesus of Nazareth, and
grows among us day by day. Send us out to preach good news by
word and deed, so that the world may believe and be rescued from
sin, and become Your faithful people; through Jesus Christ our
Saviour. AMEN.
MINUTE FOR MISSION: Our Life Together and In The World
* SHARING GOD'S BLESSINGS: As the Offering is presented all
stand for the Doxology (Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow -
VU 541) and Prayer of Dedication
Freely, O God we have received. Now freely we give. We
pray you bless our offering and keep your household, the
Church, in your steadfast faith and love, that through
Your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness and
minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our
Saviour Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
* DEPARTING HYMN: "We Are Called To Follow Jesus" - SFGP 18
* COMMISSIONING (Unison): In the power of the Holy Spirit we now
go forth into the world, to fulfil our calling as the people
of God, the body of Christ.
* BENEDICTION AND THREEFOLD AMEN
Go in peace
and may God be with you till we meet again.
* CHORAL BLESSING: "Go Now In Peace" - VU 964
copyright - Rev. Richard J. Fairchild - Spirit Networks, 1999 - 2006
please acknowledge the appropriate author if citing these sermons.
For Another Look at the Texts For This Sunday see
Homily For Ordinary 11 - Year A
Friar Sydney Mascarenhas. O.F.M., Ph.D
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