Twenty-Second Sunday of Kingdomtide
Worship Theme: God’s concern for His people…
Jeremiah 31:7-9 (GWT)
Hebrews 5:1-6 (GWT)
Mark 10:46-52 (NLT)
A God Who Is For You!
A reading from the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, verses 46-52. Listen for a word from God for you and me, the people of God . . . Here ends the reading from the book of Mark.
Let us pray. . . Loving and gracious God, we thank you for your word that gives light to our path. Illuminate our minds and spirits so that we may know your will for our lives. Where there are places of darkness illuminate them with the fire of your Spirit within us. May we see you more clearly, love you more dearly and follow you more nearly as we walk our journey of faith. Speak Lord; your light bearer’s are listening.
I don’t know about you but I can’t wait until the elections are over. Some “supposedly” smart people are saying some really dumb things. It is really a sad turn of events. And there are Christians out there that are really saying some really disheartening things, especially on the question about abortion. I understand they are against abortion. Everyone has their own opinion on it. But to say that “It is God’s will” that they got pregnant because of incest or rape is just ridicules.
Would God really want a woman to go through pregnancy and have their child as a reminder of what happened to them? Would God really want a child to possibly go through abuse because the parent sees it as a reminder of what happened to them? These women are victims of someone else’s crime. They became pregnant because of someone else’s wrongdoing. Not their own. This doesn’t sound like the God I know and read about in the Bible. It is not the God I have grown to love. How can they say something as absurd as that?
The Bible tells another story of God’s will for God’s children. Let’s take a look at the scriptures from this morning and see what God’s word says about the plans for you and me. I really think that those politicians have it wrong. Maybe they need to read the Bible again with God’s eyes and not the eye’s of man, the eyes of mercy, grace and forgiveness.
The Old Testament reading from Jeremiah tells us that God is for us…for God’s creation called humanity…because God frees us from our bondage. God loves humanity so much that God is willing to bring them from all the corners of the earth…God will gather His people together. God is there, waiting for those who realize that they need God in their lives. God is waiting for them to reach out their hand and grab hold of the divine. And God will lead them beside streams, make their path level and be their Father in heaven. Now to me, that doesn’t sound like a God who thinks its O.K. for one of His children…for one of His creations to be lost without Him. It sounds a lot like God wants to bring His children into a land of peace and prosperity.
In reading the Gospel of Mark, we see that not only will we be set free of bondage, the bondage of sin and separation, but God is for us because He enables us to see. The story doesn’t tell us how long Bartimaeus was blind or how it happened. All it tells us is that he was blind. Now back then, they thought that people were “afflicted” with various things because of a sin that they had committed or one that their parents committed. The fact was and is that things happen sometimes just because. No reason or rhyme. It just is.
Bartimaeus cried out to the Lord and when He was told to be quiet, he cried out even more. Now when Jesus asked him what he wanted, it wasn’t as if Jesus didn’t know. There are many stories in the bible that we hear that Jesus knew what the people were thinking before they said a word. Maybe Bartimaeus needed to say…to admit he was blind in order to be able to see. There are times in our lives when we are blind and it is not until we admit we are blind about something that we are able to see with renewed eyes…a renewed vision. We are healed from the inside out when we admit we need healing…this is what we have been discovering in our Wednesday night services…in order to be healed we need to look deep within ourselves and discover the things that need healing. Then and only then can we be on the path of wholeness and healing.
We also know that God is for us because of the Hebrews passage from this morning. God provides us with a high priest. Humanity needed and still needs a high priest that is above sin. We need a high priest that, even though they were in human for, was sinless. We are given that priest in and through our Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus intercedes for us moment by moment. If God wasn’t for us, why would God spare God’s own Son for the position? Why would God send humanity a sacrifice that stands the test of time?
Bad things happen all the time to good people. We may despair in our own lives and think that “this is God’s will for my life, good, bad or indifferent.” It doesn’t mean that people are being punished or it is God’s will for them. It means that we live in a fallen world where either by our own choices or the choices of others those bad things happen. God has a plan for you, for me, and for all of humanity. Plans that are good and pleasing. Plans that give God pleasure to give to those who love him. We need to renew our minds and our ways of thinking at times. We have a God who is so good and so loving that He sent His Son to die so that humanity may live in a renewed and forgiven life with Him. That alone gives me hope, joy and security for the future. If God is for us…who can be against us? Who can stand against our most awesome God and his Son, Lord Jesus Christ? Who or what can separate us from the love of God? Nothing in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Amen!
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November 2, 2012
Worship Theme: God’s concern for His people. . .
Mark 10:46-52 (New Living Translation Bible)
Healing of Bartimaeus
Jeremiah 31:7-9 (GOD’S Word Translation Bible)
Hebrews 5:1-6 (GOD’S Word Translation Bible)
Call to Worship (Psalm 126:1-3 GOD’S Word Translation Bible)
Unison Prayer by Pastor
Pastoral Prayer by Pastor Ruth Foss
Prayer of Dedication (GBOD 2012)
Children’s Message by Pastor Ruth Foss
and sermon – “A God Who Is For You”
by Pastor Ruth Foss
https://twitter.com/PastorRuthFoss
http://www.facebook.com/pastorruthfoss
http://www.ahandmaidenofthelord.blogspot.com
http://pastorruth.posterous.com/
A Handmaiden of the Lord
http://www.suncookumc.org
Suncook United Methodist Church
http://www.suncookumc.org
http://facebook.com/groups/136632035559/
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Suncook-United-Methodist-Church/102221356487965
Suncook, NH
October 28, 2012
Twenty-Three Sunday of Kingdomtide
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