2021

Greetings!

I hope that this email finds you all well and feeling blessed!

Next weekend we have many special events on our calendar. On Saturday we have a New Member Class in Meeting Room A from 9am to 3pm. Lunch will be provided by the Council. Anyone who is interested in becoming a member or just reviewing what it is that we believe as Lutherans are invited to join us. Please contact the church office and sign up!

Then next Sunday we will have our annual Blessing of the Animals in the courtyard from 12:30 to 1:30pm.

Finally, next Sunday from 4pm to 6pm we will be hosting a city-wide Via de Cristo Ultreya potluck. Everyone is invited to join us in the Large Fellowship Hall.

And do not forget our Youth Rummage Sale on Saturday, October 16, 8am-2pm.

Oh, yes, and on Sunday, October 17 after worship there is a Stewardship Ice Cream Social in the Large Hall!!

God bless & keep you safe till then,

Pr Tom

Welcome

GATHERING SONGS YOU ARE MY ALL IN ALL

1. You are my strength when I am weak

You are the treasure that I seek

You are my all in all.

Seeking You as a precious jewel,

Lord to give up I’d be a fool

You are my all in all.

Chorus Jesus, Lamb of God. Worthy is Your name.

Jesus, lamb of God, Worthy is your name.

2. Taking my sin, my cross, my shame,

Rising again, I bless Your name

You are my all in all.

When I fall down, you pick me up,

When I am dry You fill my cup

You are my all in all. (Chorus X2)

SPIRIT SONG

Oh let the Son of God enfold you
With His Spirit and His love
Let Him fill your heart
And satisfy your soul
Oh let Him have those things That hold you
And His Spirit like a dove
Will descend upon your life And make you whole

Chorus Jesus oh Jesus Come and fill Your lambs
Jesus oh Jesus Come and fill Your lambs.

2) Oh come and sing this song With gladness

as your hearts Are filled with joy
Lift your hands in sweet surrender To His name
Oh give Him all your tears and sadness
Give Him all your years of pain
And you’ll enter into life in Jesus’ name

(repeat chorus twice)

COME, NOW IS THE TIME TO WORSHIP

Verse Come, now is the time to worship;

Come, now is the time to give your heart;

Come, just as you are to worship;

Come, just as you are before your God. Come

Chorus

One day every tongue will confess You are God;

One day every knee will bow;

Still the greatest treasure remains;

For those who gladly choose You now

Repeat verse and chorus

Come, now is the time, Come, now is the time, Come.

THE CALL TO WORSHIP

Leader: Let our hearts be lifted together in worship and prayer!

People: For we have been so richly blessed by God’s gift of prayer.

Leader: That we might share all we are about in life with our Lord and Savior.

People: Prayers of thanksgiving and praise and prayers of supplication.

Leader: Whatever is upon our hearts we may take before the Lord God Almighty.

People: Blessed be the name of the Lord!

WELCOME TO WORSHIP

Equip

PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS

Leader: Gracious God,

People: so often we have lived our lives as if You had never given us the gift of prayer. Too often in the daily routines of our lives we have totally failed to seek Your will and guidance, and we have made our decisions by our wisdom alone, only to be upset with You later when things went wrong. Forgive us, Lord, and help us keep our hearts open to You in prayer. In Christ we pray. Amen.

(Silence for reflection and personal confession)

Leader:Our confession of sins before one another opens us to receive the healing that God offers. God has promised that those who pray in faith will be raised up to new life and forgiven for all their sins. Sisters and Brothers, your sins are forgiven; be at peace.

People: Thanks be to God!

SONG OF PRAISE SANCTUARY

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary

Pure and holy, tried and true.

With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living

Sanctuary for you. (X3)

TODAY’S BIBLE READINGS

SECOND READING: James 5:13–20

Marks of the Christian community include praying for those who are sick and in need, celebrating with those in good health, restoring those who have strayed, confessing sins to one another, and offering forgiveness to each other.

¹³Are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. ¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain and the earth yielded its harvest.

¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, ²⁰you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION THY WORD

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path

And a light unto my path; you’re the light unto my path

GOSPEL: Mark 9:38–50

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus teaches his disciples about ministry that involves service and sacrifice. His disciples are slow to realize that these words apply to them as well as to others.

³⁸John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” ³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. ⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

⁴²If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. ⁴³If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”.

SPECIAL MUSIC Bells Angels

CHILDREN’S MESSAGE

ADULT MESSAGE 18 PENTECOST—9.26.21—JARK 9:38-50

A few years ago, there was a Mensa convention in San Francisco. Mensa, of course, is an organization whose members have an IQ of 140 or higher. Several of the Mensa members were lunching at a local cafe. While dining, they discovered that their saltshaker contained pepper and their pepper shaker was full of salt. The Mensa members, being naturally inquisitive, began to question how they could they swap the contents of the two bottles without spilling any of the contents, using only the implements at hand. After all, this was clearly a job for the best minds available.

The group debated and presented ideas, and finally came up with a brilliant solution involving a napkin, a straw, and an empty saucer. They called the waitress to their table—convinced that they would dazzle her with their solution.

“Ma’am,” they said, “We couldn’t help but notice that the pepper shaker contains salt and the saltshaker contains pepper.”

“Oh,” said the waitress when they finally got her attention. “Sorry about that.” Without further comment, she unscrewed the caps of both bottles, switched the caps, and then said, “Will that be one check or separate checks?”

I guess the Mensa members learned something about the worth of common sense that day . . . from a café waitress. Let’s talk about saltshakers for a few moments today.

In today’s Gospel Jesus says: “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?”

Bible scholar William Barclay interpreted Jesus’ words like this: “When a thing loses its essential quality and fails to perform its essential duty, it is fit for nothing but to be thrown away.”

In those days, salt was a really valuable commodity.Salt was valuable for two reasons: as a preservative for food and to enhance the flavor of food.We all know how essential salt is for enhancing the taste of food. On some of our most popular foods, salt really brings out the flavor.

What would potato chips taste like without salt? Or how about French fries, for that matter? Or popcorn? Obviously, we can overindulge in salt, but few people voluntarily go on a completely salt-free diet.

When Jesus said that we are the salt of the earth, perhaps he was saying that we should bring flavor to life as he brought flavor to life.

Years ago, a woman named Marge wrote columnist Ann Landers with a complaint. In her letter, she said, “I’m 44, husband same age (swell guy). We get along O.K.—no drinking, no gambling, no skirt chasing. He has a good job and our home is paid for. Our children are healthy and normal. They do well in school and the three older ones (teenagers) have never caused us any trouble.”

“So, why am I writing?” she asks. “Because my life is blah. Something is missing. It’s like stew without salt. I feel a certain emptiness.”

Can anybody identify with her complaint? Many people in our society have that emptiness within their lives. Like this woman, their lives, are “blah.” Something is missing. As this woman described her life, “It’s like stew without salt.”

How do we bring flavor to people’s lives? We do it by showing them genuine concern.We let them know that somebody cares for them. Any time we show genuine concern for someone else, we are making this world a better place. We are adding flavor to their lives. We are showing ourselves to be “salt of the earth.”

Recently I heard about a woman named Martha who was fortunate enough to run into a group of women who would most certainly qualify as the salt of the earth. Martha is a twenty-six-year-old woman with ALS (sometimes referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Martha needed help. When this group of women from Evanston, Illinois, heard about Martha, they jumped into action. They began giving Martha round-the-clock nursing care. They bathed her, fed her, prayed for her, and witnessed to her.

Martha, who had not received Christ as her Savior, could not understand how a loving God could let her get ALS. But when she saw God’s love in these women, eventually she became a follower of Jesus Christ.

Don’t you imagine there was rejoicing in heaven when these women jumped into action to help Martha? Jesus said to his followers that they were the salt of the earth. It was a high compliment. We are to bring flavor to the lives of everyone around us by our genuine concern for others.

That’s the first thing that salt does. Salt brings flavor to food. Traditionally, however, salt has played an even more important role in the lives of human beings. For many generations it was the only real preservative humanity had for food.

That’s always been so. Salt was so valuable that soldiers of the Roman Empire received an allowance of salt as part of their pay (the origin of the English word salary). In various eras people in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa have used cakes of salt to pay their debts. Salt has been considered very valuable even in our land all the way up current times.

We simply cannot over emphasize how important salt was to earlier societies, including our own. The question is: how do we as followers of Christ serve as a preservative in our time? Here is one answer: Are we not those who have been entrusted with the task of preserving for future generations the Good News of Jesus Christ?Isn’t that the essential task of the people of Christ—to be a witness to his presence in the world?

I’m reminded of a popular television commercial that some of our golfers might remember: Two golfers are swatting golf balls around a certain golf course. A voiceover accompanies their efforts: “Greens fees: $116 . . . Graphite shaft clubs: $877 . . . Lunch at the turn: $13.50 . . . Balls, tees: $36.” And then the clincher . . . as one miraculous shot bounces across the green and into the cup. “Hole-in-one . . . and a witness: Priceless. There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s MasterCard.”

If I ever hit a hole-in-one that’s certainly what I want—a witness. Otherwise, nobody would believe it! What Jesus wants are witnesses—people who will witness to this generation that Christ is alive and at work in the world. People who will testify to the difference his presence has made in their lives. People who, because of their credibility, will make it possible to preserve the teachings of Christ for later generations. We each need to ask the question whether our lives would convince people that Christ is alive by the difference he has made in their lives. Are we a witness for our Lord?

A man named Jeffrey Collins tells this story. It had been a trying week at Jeffrey’s office at his organization, an organization which is called, quite appropriately, “Love & Action.” It was five o’clock on a Friday afternoon. Jeffrey was looking forward to having a quiet dinner with friends. Then the phone rang.

“Jeff! It’s Jimmy!” he heard a quivering voice say.

Jimmy, who suffered from several AIDS-related illnesses, was one of their regular clients. “I’m really sick, Jeff. I’ve got a fever. Please help me.”

Though he tried not to show it, this angered Jeffrey. After a sixty-hour work week, he did not want to hear about Jimmy. Even people whose lives are devoted to doing good, can sometimes suffer from what has been called “compassion fatigue.” But Jeff promised to be right over. Still, during the drive over, he complained to God about the inconvenience.

He said the moment he walked in the door he could smell the vomit. Jimmy was on the sofa, shivering and in distress. Jeffrey wiped his forehead, then got a bucket of soapy water to clean up the mess. He managed to maintain a facade of concern, though he was raging inside.

Jimmy’s friend Russ, who also had AIDS, came down the stairs. The odor of the vomit made Russ sick, too.

As he cleaned the carpet around Russ’s chair, Jeff said he was ready to explode inside. Here he was cleaning up after two men, not just one. Suddenly Russ startled him. “I understand!” he blurted out. “I understand!”

“What Russ?” Jimmy asked weakly.

“I understand who Jesus is,” Russ said through tears. “He’s like Jeff!”

Suddenly Jeffrey began to weep. He hugged Russ and prayed with him. That night Russ, as well as Jimmy, decided to follow Jesus.

A few years ago, a very popular Christian book came out titled,Out of the Saltshaker and Into the World. It was subtitled, Evangelism as a Way of Life. It was authored by Rebecca Manley Pippert.

“Salt is good,” Jesus said, “but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again?”

Ms. Pippert’s thesis is, “Salt is good, but if salt stays in the saltshaker, what good is it?” How can it flavor life if it stays in the saltshaker? How can it preserve food if it stays in the shaker? How do we get the salt that will change our world out of the saltshaker? Really, there is only one way and that is for followers of Jesus to live as Christ lived, showing his love for all the world to see. “You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus said. “But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” There is only one way for that to happen as well. That is by each of us drawing closer to him so that his love will radiate through us. “You are the salt of the world,” said Jesus. AMEN.

SERMON SONG SPIRIT OF GENTLENESSELW #396

Refrain Spirit, Spirit of gentleness,

blow through the wilderness calling and free;

Spirit, Spirit of restlessness,

stir me from placidness, wind, wind on the sea.

1. You moved on the waters, you called to the deep,

then you coaxed up the mountains from the valleys of sleep;

and over the eons you called to each thing:

“Awake from your slumbers and rise on your wings.” Refrain

2. You swept through the desert, you stung with the sand,

and you goaded your people with a law and a land;

and when they were blinded with idols and lies,

then you spoke through your prophets to open their eyes. Refrain

3. You sang in a stable, you cried from a hill,

then you whispered in silence when the whole world was still;

and down in the city you called once again,

when you blew through your people on the rush of the wind. Refrain

4. You call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes.

From the bondage of sorrow all the captives dream dreams;

our women see visions, our men clear their eyes.

With bold new decisions your people arise. Refrain

Text: James K. Manley, b. 1940

Respond

AFFIRMING OUR FAITH Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH

L: Freed by God in Christ to live and love and serve, we pray for the church, those in need, and all of God’s beloved creation.

A brief silence.

L: Gracious God, you gather together people of faith in every time and every place to be the risen body of Christ in the world. Enliven the church to nourish its members, to love the earth, and to serve its neighbors. Lord, in your mercy,

C: hear our prayer.

L: Loving God, you house the homeless, free the captive, and heal the sick. Make our hands your hands in service to strangers and friends. We pray especially for . . . . Lord, in your mercy,

C: hear our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

L: Into your wide embrace, gracious God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your boundless mercy through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.

C: Amen.

WE WORSHIP GOD THROUGH OUR GIVING

PRAYER OF BLESSING During the service we will have offering plates available next to the communion stations to drop your offering in instead of passing them in the pew. You may also give by automatic withdrawal, electronically on the website, by text to 833-755-0207 (phone number is on the website), by mail, or drop it through the mail slot on the office door. We thank you all for your continued support and partnership in the Gospel. Let us pray:

L: Bless these gifts, O God, for we offer them and our lives to be used to proclaim the good news of Jesus in ways that empower people’s lives. May our faith be so evident through our deeds and our words that others are brought to faith and lives are transformed. This we pray in Jesus’ name.

C: Amen.

WORDS OF INSTITUTION

THE LORD’S PRAYER

HOLY COMMUNION Holy Communion will be served to those present at this time and then distributed here in the sanctuary from 12 to 12:30 for those worshipping online.

COMMUNION SONG SING ALLELUIA

1. Sing alleluia to the Lord, sing alleluia to the Lord

Sing alleluia, sing alleluia, sing alleluia to the Lord

2. Jesus is risen from the dead

3. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth

4. He’s coming back to take us home

5. We give thanks to God our King

6. He died for us, we’ll live for Him

CCLI-License# 1366369

Send

BENEDICTION SONG AS YOU GO ON YOUR WAY

As you go on your way may Christ go with you.

May he go before you to show you the way;

May he go behind you to encourage you;

Beside you to befriend you;

Above you to watch over;

Within you to give you peace.

In the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

STREAMS THEME SONG

See the streams of living waters,

springing from eternal love,

well supply your sons and daughters,

and all fear of want remove.

Who can faint while such a river

ever will their thirst assuage?

Grace which, like the Lord, the giver,

never fails from age to age.

SENDING BLESSING

Pastor: Greet your worshiping neighbor. Go in peace and be Devoted to Generosity!

People: Thanks be to God!!!

Sunday, September 26

9:30 – 10:30am Bible Study

10:45 – 11:45am Livestream Worship in-person

11:50am – 12:20pm Building & Grounds

12 – 12:30pm Communion in Sanctuary

3 – 4:30pm Zoom Bible Study

5 – 7pm Youth Group

Tuesday, September 28

9 – 11am Streams Food Pantry

9:30 – 11:30am Dorcas Circle

10:30am – 12pm Bible Study

Wednesday, September 29

8:30 – 11:30am Workday

9 – 11:30am Quilters

12 – 1pm Via de Cristo Grouping, Room E

Thursday, September 30

9 – 11am VdC Grouping

6 – 7pm Bells Angels practice

7:15 – 8:30pm Joy Choir Practice

Saturday, October 2

9am – 3pm New Member Class

Sunday, October 3

9:30 – 10:30am Bible Study

10:45 – 11:45am Livestream Worship in-person

12 – 12:30pm Communion in Sanctuary

12:20 – 1:20pm Worship & Music – Meeting Room A

12:30 – 1:30pm BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS

~~3 – 4:30pm Zoom Bible Study~~ cancelled

4 – 6pm City-wide VdC Ultreya, Streams in the Desert Large Hall