Why?

Leader: We will give thanks to you, O LORD, with our whole heart; we will tell of all your wonderful deeds. All: We will be glad and exult in you; we will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Leader: O magnify the LORD with me. All: Let us exalt God’s name together! —from & , NRSV

Leader: O magnify the LORD with me. All: Let us exalt God’s name together! —from & , NRSV

Opening Prayer

Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.

Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,

casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.

Cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,

who wert and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,

though the eye of sinfulness thy glory may not see,

Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,

perfect in power, in love and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!

All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.

Only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

Confession

Merciful God, you pardon all who truly repent and turn to you. We humbly confess our sins and ask your mercy. We have not loved you with a pure heart, nor have we loved our neighbor as ourselves. We have not done justice, loved kindness, or walked humbly with you, our God. Have mercy on us, O God, in your loving-kindness. In your great compassion, cleanse us from our sin. Create in us a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within us. Do not cast us from your presence, or take your Holy Spirit from us. Restore to us the joy of your salvation and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. —based on

Declaration of Forgiveness

Gloria Patri (Glory to God)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.

Musical Meditation: Georgia Stringert

Witnessing God’s Work

Prayer for Illumination (understanding)

Psalm 106:1–15 ESV

Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord, or declare all his praise? Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times! Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people; help me when you save them, that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation, that I may glory with your inheritance. Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make known his mighty power. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the deep as through a desert. So he saved them from the hand of the foe and redeemed them from the power of the enemy. And the waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. Then they believed his words; they sang his praise. But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel. But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness, and put God to the test in the desert; he gave them what they asked, but sent a wasting disease among them.

Scripture Readings

Deuteronomy 5:6–11 ESV

“ ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “ ‘You shall have no other gods before me. “ ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. “ ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Message

The first text message I got today was from a colleague and it just said, “I am weary of praying for the victims of gun violence in our country. Enough, Lord, enough.”

I am weary of praying for the victims of gun violence in our country. Enough, Lord, enough.”

Yeah.

Me too.

And as I consider our text this morning: this commandment not to worship any other Gods, and not to have anything in our life that gets in the way of living our calling as God’s chosen people: I could totally go for the low hanging fruit - I could equate guns and gun culture to idols. Honestly, it would probably be an easy sermon for me to write. But I don’t know that it’s a helpful sermon right here and now.

I could pick out some terrible thing that happened out of the news each week and equate it to an idol, but all that’s going to happen is one of two things: either there are going to be so many idols that we’re all overwhelmed and wind up being able to relate to very little of the content of those sermons and never actually change anything, or I’m going to have half the congregation nodding along and half tuning me out because I’m on the “wrong side” of the debate. Neither of those options is helpful to any of us.

A friend and I launched a podcast this week and even if noone ever listens to it but us, it’s quickly becoming a great place for us as preachers to process the text before and after preaching it. And this past week as we were talking about idols and how there are so many and many of them are really divisive topics to bring up, it occurred to me an idol that we as a culture have taken to worshiping. Even I love this idol and allow it to get in the way of God’s work in my life:

Being right.

How many families and churches and friendships have been damaged or torn apart because two people or groups are so set in their ways (be they old or new) or so set in their rhetoric and arguments that God’s love is forced to take a back seat?

We love being right so much that we’re willing to let some really trivial stuff be the hill we die on.

Churches have split or had major unrest because they can’t agree on things like what sort of file cabinet to buy, which picture of Jesus to hang in the foyer, etc. I once heard of two people threatening to leave a church because one of them moved a sofa and they could not come to a reasonable solution.

All of those problems could have been solved by the parties being able to say, “You know what, in the grand scheme of things, God’s work will still be done if the sofa is in the youth room.” or “God can still work in a church with a 4 drawer brown file cabinet instead of the three drawer silver one.”

Traditional worship vs contemporary worship

But so set on being right, on never backing down, on convincing the other person they were wrong all along, these petty arguments became huge conflicts and God’s work had to be set aside while they were sorted out.

We should have adult, civilized conversations with one another about how we think these problems could be solved. The second it gets heated enough to be considered an argument, however, we might want to check what our real motivation is. Are we furthering God’s work or are we just mad the other person doesn’t agree with us?

Are we coming up with solutions that we can be a part of or are we just telling one another how other people are wrong and are the problem? Are we willing to admit when we’re wrong, or maybe even part of the problem or are we just worried about being right?

Today, it is appropriate that we pray for the victims of both massacres that happened yesterday. At least one of them is suspected of being a white supremacist act of terror. And so we need to also pray for all those of ethnic and religious minorities who are targets of such terror these days. Today, we should have all those who are vulnerable in our thoughts and prayers.

Tomorrow, or in a few days, people will start talking about how thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. And they are right. God calls us to pray, but then to act as well. “Faith without works is dead.”

James 2:17 ESV

So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But what has happened every time before and will almost certainly happen again this time will be that the thoughts and prayers will turn to arguments about who is right. And we, as a culture, will get so caught up in the same arguments, slogans, and talking points that we make every stinking time that we won’t actually do anything meaningful.

The enemy has neutralized us.

We’ve been so sold on this idol of proving ourselves right that we just keep living this cycle of violence, thoughts and prayers, argue to prove who’s right and who’s wrong about how to solve it, nothing happens, violence.

You absolutely should have an opinion on what the local, state, and national government should consider in order to help stop gun violence. And you should vote accordingly. But, there is not a single one of us in this room who, by proving to someone at church or work or wherever that we are on the right side of the big bad gun control debate, will change a blessed thing.

There is no debate over whether these tragedies are indeed tragedies. They are horrific and evil.

But by convincing us that heated facebook debates or another bumper sticker is “standing up for what’s right”, the enemy has neutralized us.

Let’s stop chasing our own tails, having the same fruitless arguments, and getting mad at each other, and instead get off our pews and do something about it.

How are we teaching children God’s love and tolerance for one another? In one of the most historically violent places I can think of - Jerusalem - there are groups very purposefully bringing together Jewish Israeli children with Palestinian Muslim and Christian children because the most effective tool to fight ethnic hate is learning to love one another.

How are we modeling that love? In Rwanda, the entire country said “enough is enough. We are tired of genocide and hate - that’s no longer who we are” and spent 25 long years working together to change the story. It would never have worked if people hadn’t come together to make it happen rather than arguing with one another about who was on the right side or wrong side of history.

Look, Israel and Rwanda are far from perfect and I’m not saying we have to model ourselves after them. They are such very different places from here that we probably shouldn’t. That said, looking at the creative things people in various places have done to combat violence can help us come up with creative solutions that we, a little congregation in Western PA, can participate in.

We are gathering this afternoon or our first discernment prayer meeting this afternoon. But as we move forward in this process, we won’t be just praying around a table. We’ll be thinking about the resources that we do have as a congregation and how they can be used for God’s work. We will be taking a close look at our neighborhood and who is here and what they need. You all know that I love exploring the world and getting to know people. God’s work has to start in our own back yard, though.

We will be praying with our feet. We will be looking for and trying out new and effective ways to work for God’s love and justice in this world. It’s about more than just having “a cause”. It’s about remembering that we aren’t here to be right. We aren’t here to prove anything. We are here to be God’s light in a dark world. Listen to what Jesus tells us he came for and let’s spend a few moments in silent prayer about how we can join in on this mission of Jesus:

Luke 4:18–19 ESV

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Luke

Prayer Prompt

How can we, as a congregation go beyond prayers and work to end gun violence in our country? How can we stand with victims and their families beyond debating with the people around us or changing our facebook profile picture? How is it that God would have us “pray with our feet”?

God, help us to see how we might make real change in our often violent and scary world. Show us where our idols of rightness and sides-choosing are getting in the way of your work. Let our voice - the voice of compassion and justice - be heard so that your goodness might be known and that your light might be seen through the darkness of this troubled time. Amen.

Hymn: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav'n to earth come down: fix in us thy humble dwelling, all thy faithful mercies crown: Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art; visit us with thy salvation, enter ev'ry trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into ev'ry troubled breast; let us all in thee inherit, let us find the promised rest: take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be; End of faith, as its Beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

Come, Almighty to deliver, let us all thy life receive; suddenly return, and never, nevermore thy temples leave. Thee we would be always blessing, serve thee as thy hosts above, pray and praise thee without ceasing, glory in thy perfect love.

Finish, then, thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be: let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee; changed from glory into glory, 'til in heav'n we take our place, 'til we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Apostle’s Creed

I BELIEVE in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick 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.

Communion

The Lord be with you!

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts!

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

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 sins as we forgive those who’ve sinned against us. Lead us, not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. . .

The Gifts of God for the People of God

Prayer after Communion

Sharing our tithes and offerings

Doxology (Song of Thanksgiving)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.Praise God all creatures here below. Praise God above, ye heavenly host.Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.Amen

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Hymn: Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

O Jesus, joy of loving hearts, thou fount of life, thou light of men, from fullest bliss that earth imparts we turn unfilled to thee again, we turn unfilled to thee again.

Thy truth unchanged has ever stood, thou savest those that on thee call; to them that seek thee, thou art good, to them that find thee, all in all to them that find thee, all in all.

We taste thee, O thou living bread, and long to feast upon thee still; we drink of thee, the fountain-head, and thirst our souls from thee to fill, and thirst our souls from thee to fill.

Our restless spirits yearn for thee, where'er our changeful lot is cast, glad that thy gracious smile we see, blest that our faith can hold thee fast, blest that our faith can hold thee fast.

O Jesus, ever with us stay, make all our moments calm and bright; chase the dark night of sin away, shed o'er the world thy holy light, shed o'er the world thy holy light.

Charge and Blessing

May the peace of our Lord Christ go with you wherever he may send you.May he guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm.May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you.May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.