Gotta Serve Somebody

Gerry Gallant

Perth Community Church

After Pentecost • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Psalm 54

Mark 9:30–37

0 ratings

· 15 views

Notes

Transcript

Welcome

Announcements

(Walter Gemill) Bible Study Starting in Oct.

Next Communion Oct. 3rd, 2021

Sunday School Active

Thank you to all who attended on Thursday evening

Call to Worship (Responsive)

Come, let us bow down in worship,

let us kneel before the LORD our Maker;

for he is our God

and we are the people of his pasture,

the flock under his care.

Prayer of Invocation

O gracious and holy God,

give us diligence to seek you,

wisdom to perceive you,

and patience to wait for you.

Grant us, O God,

a mind to meditate on you,

eyes to behold you,

ears to listen for your Word,

a heart to love you,

and a life to proclaim you,

through the power of the Spirit

of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Opening Hymn:

: O Jesus I Have Promised (569)

Call to Confession

When we gather to praise God,

we remember that we are people

who have preferred our wills to his.

Accepting his power to become new persons in Christ,

let us confess our sin before God and one another.

Prayer of Confession (Responsive)

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to your abundant mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

and my sin is ever before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned,

and done what is evil in your sight,

so that you are justified in your sentence

and blameless when you pass judgment.

You desire truth in the inward being;

therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.

Hide your face from my sins,

and blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

and put a new and right spirit within me.

Do not cast me from your presence,

and do not take your holy spirit from me.

Assurance of Pardon

Here are words you may trust,

words that merit full acceptance:

Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

To all who confess their sins and resolve to lead a new life,

he says, “Your sins are forgiven.”

He also says, “Follow me.”

Now to the one who rules all worlds,

immortal, invisible, the only God,

be honor and glory forever and ever.

The Lord’s Prayer

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 debts, as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the Evil One.

For Thine is the Kingdom, the power and the glory,

Forever and ever. Amen.

Children’s Lesson

Normally, we would have the children gather together at the front of the sanctuary. However, we would ask that they stay with their parents for now and listen to the children’s sermon.

Good morning, everyone. Today we are going to start with some questions and answers. This is probably one of the only times you will get to yell in church so take advantage of it and when I ask a question yell out your answer to me. Adults you can feel free to join in and give some responses if you want.

I want to get to know more about all of you. So, who can tell me their favorite color? What about your favorite food? How about, how many brothers and sisters you have? What are your hobbies?

I think just by asking these simple questions I have learned a lot about each of you this morning. Now I know some of your favorite colors, foods, hobbies. I know a little bit more about your families as well. However, I do not know everything about you, do I? It would take a lot more time and many more questions before I could get to know your very well, and I would never really know everything about you.

Now I am going to share with all of you something about myself, ‘안녕하세요 저는 Gerry 목사입니다. 한국말을 잘 못해서 죄송합니다.”

So, what did you all learn about me? Does anyone know what I just said? I am guessing none of the children here know what I said, there may be a couple of adults who do though. So, if you did not understand what I said what questions do you think you could ask to try to learn more about me?

In the scripture we are learning about today we are going to see Jesus tell his disciples something that they do not understand. Jesus explained that he was going to be made fun of, to be hurt and even die. BUT Jesus also told them that even though he would die he would rise again.

His disciples did not understand this. They heard the words, but just like when I spoke to you in another language earlier, they could not understand the meaning of what he actually said. The problem was that they were too afraid to ask questions about what they had heard.

Jesus does not want this. Jesus wants us to ask questions about him and what he teaches. The same way that we all learn things about each other by asking questions, we need to ask questions about Jesus so we can get to know them better.

Will we always know the answer or learn everything there is to know about God? Probably not, but by asking questions we can get to know them a little better. We can do this by reading our bibles, by listening to the pastor talk about God, even by talking with our friends or other people in our church community.

I am going to give each of you homework this week. I want everyone to think of at least one question they have about Jesus. I want you to ask that question to your mom or dad this week and talk about it with your family. If it is a really hard question, they might not have the answer, so you can also ask any of the other adults in the congregation too, maybe you can learn even more about Jesus by doing this.

Dear Jesus, we want to know more about you. Thank you for hearing our questions and thank you for the people in our lives who learn about you with us. Thank you for loving us so much! Amen

Responsive Reading

English Standard Version Psalm 54

The Lord Upholds My Life

54 TO THE CHOIRMASTER: WITH STRINGED INSTRUMENTS. A MASKIL OF DAVID, WHEN THE ZIPHITES WENT AND TOLD SAUL, “IS NOT DAVID HIDING AMONG US?”

1 O God, save me by your name,

and vindicate me by your might.

2 O God, hear my prayer;

give ear to the words of my mouth.

3 For strangers have risen against me;

ruthless men seek my life;

they do not set God before themselves. Selah

4 Behold, God is my helper;

the Lord is the upholder of my life.

5 He will return the evil to my enemies;

in your faithfulness put an end to them.

6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;

I will give thanks to your name, O LORD, for it is good.

7 For he has delivered me from every trouble,

and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies.

Music Ministry

Blessed Be Your Name

Scripture

Mark 9:30–37 ESV

30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. 33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Hymn Before Sermon

i Will Trust My Saviour Jesus

Prayer for illumination

Holy Spirit,

pour out upon us

wisdom and understanding,

that, being taught by you in Holy Scripture,

our hearts and minds may be opened to receive

all that leads to life and holiness.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Sermon

Wendy’s junior bacon cheeseburgers are one of my favorite forms of fast food. There is something special about the way they are put together, they have almost a homemade flavour.

Dave Thomas who was the founder of the Wendy’s chain passed away in 2002, however, prior to his passing he was the face of the company appearing in more than 800 commercials between 1989 and 2002. He was known for his humble attitude and down to earth way of speaking.

While he was the face of Wendy’s to the outside world, he was also the face that everyone knew within the company. He appeared in many of the training videos, not dressed as the CEO, but instead dressed in the apron and hat that was the standard uniform of his employees all across the company.

One year he showed up on the cover of the company’s annual report not dressed in the suit of the CEO, or the uniform of an employee, but in a knee length apron with a mop and a mop bucket.

To understand him, you need to know he was adopted, he lost his adopted mother when he was just 5 and was raised by his father and grandmother. He never managed to finish high school until much later in life when he was already a self-made millionaire.

He did not start with Wendy’s, in fact he worked for KFC for most of his early career, starting as a cook and working his way up within the store and eventually becoming a key member of the KFC chain.

Dave was never afraid of hard work. He is quoted as saying, ‘“I got my M.B.A. long before I got my G.E.D. At Wendy’s M.B.A. does not mean Master of Business Administration – it means Mop Bucket Attitude.’ Dave Thomas believed that it was service which led to success, and he tried to pass this attitude onto everyone who worked for him.

This attitude of service to others is also what we are called to have in our lives as Christians as we will see in today's scripture.

Now we have Jesus and the disciples leaving the lands of the gentiles and returning to the region of Galilee. This has been a difficult trip for the disciples. They are learning that all the teaching they have had throughout their life about who the messiah will be is actually not correct. Instead of being a mighty king or warrior, Jesus is going to suffer and die.

They are struggling to understand this, much in the same way that many of us in the modern world struggle with our understanding of what it means to be Christian.

To be Christian means to be a follower of Christ. We spoke about how that means having a great faith. How it means dying to self, picking up our cross and following his teachings, even when life is difficult.

We are called to serve Christ in all things. In every aspect of our life, we are called to follow him and serve him.

Luke 16:13 ESV

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

We will constantly be challenged in our life to make choices between serving God and serving ourselves. Choosing what we believe is the greatest treasure, the worldly or the eternal.

This is a fact of our existence. We are always going to be called to choose who we serve. Through the story of the Syrophoenician woman and the story of Peter’s rebuking we know we are called to serve the Lord and not the desires of our own in this world.

Psalm 123:2 ESV

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he has mercy upon us.

The scripture is full of references to service to the Lord God, our master and king. We are called to be attentive to his word and his calling in our lives. Jesus reminds us of this when He states

John 10:27 ESV

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

We are his sheep, and we are called to follow him. Today Jesus is going to further explain what being a follower means to His disciples and through His Word to each of us.

While they are walking the disciples get in a bit of an argument over who is the greatest among them. They still do not fully understand the reality of the coming death for Jesus.

They were also afraid to admit to Jesus that they did not fully understand what he had said. Instead of seeking clarity they started to wonder who his favorite was. Was it Peter? Or James? What about John? They have this conversation all along the road while they move down to Capernaum, where they settle into a house.

Mark 9:33–34 ESV

33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.

Any parent should understand what is happening here, the kids are having an argument in the back seat of the car or in another room of the house, and you ask, ‘What’s going on?’. Knowing that they are in the wrong you get that sweet little voice that says, ‘nothing’.

Here we have the disciples trying to stay silent because they do not want to tell Jesus that they were arguing about who was the greatest. They knew it was a foolish argument. What is interesting though is their silence. Did they really think that God does not know what they were arguing about? God knows all, he sees all we do, he hears everything we say, he knows every fleeting thought that passes through our mind.

The disciples yet again prove they are struggling to know and understand that Jesus is the Messiah, that he is God. If they fully knew that then they would know it was pointless to try to play dumb when they were asked this question by their Lord.

For all of us who are Christians in the modern world this should be of great comfort. Those who walked with Jesus, broke bread with him at meals, witnessed the greatness of the miracles he did and learned from his very lips, still struggled to understand who he was. When we struggle with our faith, we are no different than the disciples and this should give us hope that one day we will come to have the same faith they did by following His teachings.

Mark 9:35 ESV

35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”

However, unlike many parents, Jesus does not rebuke them. Instead, he calls them close for a lesson. Notice the scripture tells us Jesus sat down, and then called the twelve to him. This was to be an important lesson, one that he wanted their full attention on and one where it was delivered in this intimate setting of teacher and student.

Jesus knowing that they have argued over who is the greatest among them, decides that he should teach them what greatness is within the Kingdom of Heaven. It is measured differently than the things of this world, where the people with the most possessions or power are considered the winners. In the Kingdom of Heaven, it is those who serve that are the greatest.

Jesus is teaching all of us that if we want to be the greatest in His kingdom, we need to stop being concerned with being the greatest in this world. If you want to be on the top in heaven, you need to accept that you need to think differently about your life here on Earth.

We are called to serve not just our Lord, but one another in this life.

Philippians 2:3–4 ESV

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Paul states it very plainly for us in the book of Philippians. Serving the Lord is serving one another.

This choice we are making when we choose to serve God is the choice between the world and the spiritual. Jesus is trying to make the disciples understand the reality that this life is just a glimpse of the eternal life they will have if they are his follower.

Scripture tells us that we are not of this world when we become a follower of Christ.

John 17:14–17 ESV

14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

When we begin to understand this, we can understand what it is that Jesus is teaching us when he calls for us to be servants of one another. We are here for a short time, even though we are physically in this world, we are in fact citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The challenges, troubles, and tribulations we face on earth are because of our citizenship in heaven. We are living in two completely different kingdoms. We need to pick which one we want to be citizens of for eternity. Jesus already told us that one saves our eternal soul, so it makes sense that we would choose that one.

However, it is not an easy choice. In this world we face temptations and tribulations. We are under constant pressure to stop following the teachings of Scripture and to conform to the ways of this world.

Ephesians 6:12 ESV

12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

In Ephesians 6 we are taught to put on the full armour of God so that we are equipped to face the world and the evil that prevails in in its rulers, authorities and ideals.

So, this is the choice we make, serve ourselves in this world and be respected in this world. Rise to power in your profession, have the wealth to buy whatever you wish, garner the respect of others who have power and wealth and the envy of those who wish they had more.

Be a servant to one another. Giving up on the glories of this world and being focused on the glories of the eternal kingdom. This means going beyond the occasionally helping of someone to justify the selfish desires to have both the things of this world and of the eternal kingdom.

If we look at Scripture, we see men like David who had a servant’s heart. David is a man often described as a man after God’s heart, and he did so by learning to serve others. You and I must learn to have this same servant’s heart, this same desire to serve one another and the community around us. Not only must we learn to serve, but we need to learn to love to serve if we want to be first in the kingdom of God.

We do this by loving one another

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

This is one piece of scripture that everyone, even non-Christians love to quote. Love one another, however they forget to ask what it means to love one another. It is much more that the feeling of compassion, or of non-hatred, that they attempt to define it as. It is very simple to claim to love everyone, but what does love to mean in the kingdom of heaven, what does love to mean to God?

John 14:15 ESV

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Love to Jesus means an action. It means keeping his commandments. Love is not simply saying you feel something, it means you will act upon it, by serving others. The word ‘love’ is a verb, and we all know from school that verbs are action words, so to love is to serve.

I know that there are many people out there who do not want to serve. That is fine but do so with an understanding that to be first in the kingdom of heaven means we need to show our love to one another by service to one another.

The needs of the people in this church, in this community, in this country and in the world are not going to be met simply by telling them that you love them and will pray for them. Some form of action needs to be done for those needs to be met.

James 2:14–17 ESV

14 What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

It takes more than faith to meet the needs of the world. Yes, there are those who simply need to unburden themselves of their troubles by having a someone listen to them. It is more likely however that someone would need actual help than just a kind ear.

When someone is on the street hungry and begging for food, someone asking them if they believe in God does little to alleviate the hunger or the cold. Praying that someone or some service would do something for them does little to alleviate the hunger and the cold. It is only through the acts of feeding, clothing, and providing shelter that we can remove the need for warmth and the huger in their bellies.

This is the type of action that God is calling for, one where we take action in our church, in our community, our country and even the world. how many times in our lives had we had the opportunity to serve someone, to meet a need in someone’s life, and missed that chance?

Why do we miss the chance? Usually, we miss it because of an excuse we give ourselves. I do not have the money to help, I do not have the time to help, I do not know how to help. We always find a way to justify not helping in our own minds.

We look at our own worldly situation and make assessment on where we are and where we want to be, then we decide what resources, money, time, knowledge we are willing to give up and share with those in need. Yet this is not the example of service that Jesus has shown us. Just a few weeks ago we saw him, trying to get away and hide, yet when the Syrophoenician woman approaches him, he heals her daughter. We also see him tired, hungry, and thirsty at the well in john chapter 4. He approaches a well and sends his disciples into the town for food and water.

While at the well he ministers to a woman of the village who has come to the well in the midst of the day. The reasons for which I would need another hour to explain, so we will put a pin in that for a future date. He is tired, hungry, and thirsty, but he places this woman's spiritual needs above his own physical needs.

When the disciples return and find him with this woman, they do not know what to do.

John 4:31–34 ESV

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

This is our call. To serve others, by serving others we do not lose anything in this world and only gain in the next. Why do we worry about the limited resources we have here in this life, when we know that God has unlimited resources and will meet our needs in life?

Many people also worry about their ability to serve others and speak to them about Christianity. to them I have a short story about a young man who had recently heard the gospel and dedicated his life to Christ. after he was a member of the congregation for a few weeks the Pastor approached him and asked him ‘What have you been doing to serve Christ since you found salvation in the gospel?’ The young man looks at the pastor and eagerly replied, ‘Oh, I am still learning.’ The pastor smiled and asked the young man, ‘When you light a candle; do you light it to make the candle more comfortable or to have it give light?’ The young man quickly replied, ‘To give light’. The pastor followed up quickly with ‘Do you expect it to give light after it has burned halfway down, or when you first light it?’ The young man looked back at his pastor amused and replied, ‘When it is first lit of course!’ This made the Pastor grin. He looked at the man and told him, ‘Go forth and do likewise, bring the light to the world around you.’

We are called to be the light of the world from the moment we begin to follow Christ, being the salt that changes the world in service of him.

Jesus does one more thing in today’s scripture to bring home the message of service.

Mark 9:36–37 ESV

36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

He picks up a child and brings them into the midst of the disciples. While this may seem simple to understand at first it is actually much more complex than we think. When Jesus picks up the child, he is not putting the sweet innocence of a child in front of the disciples, he is not putting the focus of love of the community in their midst. Instead, he is placing the one person that was considered even lower than a slave in the culture of the time. Children were the lowest rung of the social ladder, having little value unless they were of noble birth. A father could keep or cast away a child at birth by choosing whether he wanted to pick it up or not.

So, when he puts this child in their midst, he is doing more than telling them to serve children. He is telling them that they must learn to humble themselves and serve all, everyone who is in need, not just those that they want to serve.

Jesus was the Son of God, yet he lived a life serving others. He never looked down upon those who came to him, we know this from the story of the Syrophoenician woman. His ministry went out to any who asked of him, regardless of their status in society, their status in the kingdom of God or even their ability to repay. Jesus Served.

The disciples struggled with this idea, much in the same way we struggle with this idea. We love the idea of the greatness we will receive in the kingdom of God but humbling ourselves and serving others in this world is a difficult thing for us to do.

Jesus demonstrates this in the grandest fashion during the Last supper.

John 13:3–5 ESV

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Washing the feet of another was the lowest duty one could perform in the household. It was something that needed to be done, because of walking upon the dusty roads the feet would become soiled. Yet here at the Last supper we have our Lord, Our God, Jesus Christ, humbling himself and washing the feet of the disciples.

In this world everyone serves; they either serve the ways of this world and the temptations that exist within it, or they choose to serve Jesus Christ.

When we choose to serve Jesus Christ:

1. We do so by serving Christ first; by denying ourselves and picking up our cross and following him through our own free will. Choosing to serve Jesus and not the world in which we live.

2. We do so by serving him faithfully through action; by showing love to one another in our speech and actions; by giving of ourselves, our wealth, our time, and our knowledge to serve the church, the community, the country, and the world.

3. We do so by serving him humbly; by doing all we are called to do and not placing anyone or anything below what we are willing to do in service of Our Lord.

Let us pray,

Neighborly Love, Service and Helpfulness

Almighty and eternal God, we are poor sinners and stand under your righteous judgment. With all our hearts we thank you for taking all our guilt from us and laying it on your dear Son Christ Jesus. Graciously sustain us in faith and govern us by your Holy Spirit, that we may live according to your will, in neighborly love, service and helpfulness, and not give way to wrath or revenge, that we may not incur your wrath but always find in you a gracious Father; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever.

Source: Veit Dietrich, d. 1549, Trinity 22

Hymn:

Be Still And Know (64)

Offering

Presenting our tithes and offerings is an act of worship. I want to encourage you to write a cheque and drop it in the mail to the church using your envelope, if you have one. (St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, PO Box 161, 1 Drummond St W, Perth, ON K7H 3E3) We also have another option for you for giving and that is you can make an e-Transfer.

This note from our treasurer. E-transfers are now accepted. Please note the new email address for this purpose only. standrewsperthoffering@gmail.com Please include your Offering Envelope # in the message section of the INTERAC transfer page you fill in. If you wish any part of your donation to go to a specific fund (eg Presbyterian Sharing) please mention this in your message.

Invitation to Offering

How does God’s love abide in anyone

who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister

in need and yet refuses to help?

Dear children, let us love,

not in word or speech,

but also in truth and action.

Offertory Prayer

Gracious God,

everything we have comes from you.

You fill us with good things.

Our hearts and lives overflow with your abundance.

With thanksgiving, we bring to you our time, talents, and tithes.

Use these gifts that you have given us

to feed others as we have been fed,

to serve others as we have been served,

and to bless others as we have been blessed,

through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

God of all people and places,

we come to you in prayer,

giving thanks that you are with us in all situations.

You bring us strength and courage when we are anxious or afraid.

You provide wisdom and direction when we face choices and challenges.

Thank you for your faithfulness to us.

In this time of prayer, enlarge our love and sharpen our vision

so that we may serve the well-being of the world you love more faithfully.

We pray for those who dwell on the margins of the economy,

facing the challenges of unemployment or financial insecurity

in these days of transition.

Give leaders in government, business and labour a mutual vision

that reflects the values of your kingdom,

so that everyone has enough resources and respect to live well and wisely.

We pray for all those facing famine and drought this year,

and for those who have lost everything through fire, storm, or pandemic.

Bring support to those people and agencies who work to alleviate suffering

and help them rebuild lives and communities.

We give you thanks for those who work for peace and mercy

in a world divided by bitter conflicts,

and for those who keep peace and lead negotiations in international disputes.

Give them courage and perseverance.

We remember those who face violence, persecution, or discrimination daily,

and pray for all whose lives are marked by danger or upheaval.

Send your Spirit to protect the vulnerable and shame the vicious

so that justice and well-being will prevail.

We pray for teachers, students, educational administrators and support staff

as another school year begins.

Thank you for the gifts of education,

for insight into this ever-changing world

and the ability to distinguish truth from error.

Grant those in education this year mutual respect

and commitment to the shared venture of learning.

Help each of us bring the benefits of our education to our life of faith

and give us all a teachable spirit.

We pray for all those anywhere who struggle with pain or illness,

disability or daunting diagnosis.

Stay by their side.

Be with those who face death this day,

and those who weep for loved ones who have died.

Unite us in love, whatever we are facing,

and grant us the peace and hope you have promised us in Christ Jesus,

in whose name we offer these prayers. Amen

Closing Hymn

Take Time To Be Holy (638)

Benediction

May God go before you to lead you.

May God go behind you to guard you.

May God go beneath you to support you.

May God go beside you to befriend you.

Do not be afraid.

Let the blessing of God—the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit—

come upon you today and settle in around you.

Do not be afraid.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Amen.

Related Media

Related Sermons