Proper 9B | Ordinary 14B | Pentecost 7 “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometowns and among their own relatives and in their own households.” FOR A BEAD AND A PRAYER CLICK HERE WORSHIP AND MEDITATION
	In Preparation for Worship  In your heavenly courts we are humbled.  In your holy presence we are weak.  In weakness and humility, we draw near to you  to draw upon your strength. —Slemmons, Timothy Matthew. When Heaven Stands Open: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship, Year B Call to Worship Worshipping God is our duty and our joy. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. We are united by the Holy Spirit, whether together and apart. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. Our prayers, our meditations, our hopes form a holy communion in this hour. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. In silence, in song, in scripture, in speaking, God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. Let us join together in praising the One who provides for all creation. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. —Julia Seymour, https://revgalblogpals.org (ELCA, USA) Prayer of Invocation  Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on us this morning. Move through our midst and transform our hearts, with the peace and the hope of the reigning Christ. And as we gather in your Divine presence,  may we boldly worship your Holy name, and in doing so, may we receive the mercy and grace that sustains us now and always.   In your Holy name we pray. Amen. —by Cathy Kowley (based on Hebrews 4) Prayer for Illumination Holy God who is Love, make our hearts and minds open and hospitable households for your gospel. Grant us the faith that we will welcome prophets among us. Strengthen us to hear words of truth, to withstand their conviction, and to join in the work of your kin-dom. May we find more comfort in sharing than in possessing, in hoping than in holding, and in “we” than in “me”. Amen. —Julia Seymour, https://revgalblogpals.org (ELCA, USA) II Samuel 5. 1-10 All the tribes of Israel gathered at Hebron and said to David, “We are your own flesh and blood. In the days when Saul ruled, it was you who led Israel on our military campaigns.  And God Most High said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel and be our commander of Israel.’ ” All the elders of Israel came to David at Hebron, and David made a pact with them before God Most High. Then they anointed David ruler of Israel. David was thirty years old and his reign lasted for forty years. He ruled in Hebron in Judah for seven-and-a-half years, and later reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years in Jerusalem. David and his army took Jerusalem by attacking its inhabitants, the Jebusites.  The Jebusites said to David, “You cannot enter here: even the lame and blind will trounce you.”  They said this to make it clear that even they could defend the city against David. Nevertheless, David captured the hilltop fortress of Zion, and it is now called the City of David. David said on that day, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water tunnel to reach ‘the lame and the blind,’ that is, David’s enemies.”  That accounts for the saying, “The lame and the blind will not enter the Temple of God Most High.” So David took the fortress and renamed it “City of David.”  He built a wall around it, from the supporting terraces and working inward. And David became more and more powerful, for God Most High was with him. Hiram, the ruler of Tyre, sent envoys to David with gifts of cedar wood, along with carpenters and stonemasons to build a residence for David. Thus David knew that God Most High had established him as ruler and had exalted David’s reign for the sake of the people of Israel. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) Psalm 48 How great is God Most High, how worthy of praise in the city of God Most HIgh,on God’s holy mountain—beautiful and lofty, the joy of all the earth!  Mount Zion, “the heart of the earth,” is the city of the great Sovereign. And for all its citadels, God is Zion’s true fortress. Look—the rulers joined forces and made their attack. But when they saw Zion, they were terrified and fled, quaking in their boots, screaming in pain like a woman in labor. Just as we had heard reports that you smashed the ships of Tarshish with a strong east wind, so we now see with our own eyes in the city of the God of Hosts, in the city of God Most High: it is God who makes Zion secure forever. O God, we meditate on your love within your Temple. As your Name reaches the ends of the earth, O God, so does your praise; justice fills your right hand. Mount Zion rejoices, and the villages of Judah celebrate because of your judgments. Walk throughout Zion—make the rounds and count the towers! Ponder its ramparts, examine its citadels, so that you can tell a future generation that God is our God, forever and ever—and God will guide us even to our last day. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) Psalm Prayer Guardian of the weak, through the teachings of your prophets you have claimed our cities, towns, and homes as temples of your presence and citadels of your justice. Turn the places we live into strongholds of your grace, that the most vulnerable as well as the most powerful among us may find peace in the security that comes in the strong name of Jesus Christ. Amen. II Corinthians 12. 1-10  I must go on boasting, however useless it may be, and speak of visions and revelations from God. I know someone who fourteen years ago was caught up in the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—only God knows. And I know that this person—whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know, only God knows—was caught up to paradise to hear words that cannot be uttered, words that no one may speak. About this person I will boast, but I will do no boasting about myself, unless it be about my weaknesses. And even if I were to boast, it wouldn’t be foolish of me, because I am speaking the truth. But I refrain, so that no one will think more of me than is justified by what I do or say. Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh—a messenger of Satan to beat me—to keep me from exalting myself! Three times I begged God that it might leave me. And God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me. So I am content with weakness, with mistreatment, with distress, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ; when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) Psalm 123  I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit enthroned in the heavens! As the eyes of a dog look to the hand of its owner—as the eyes of attendants look to the hand of those they serve—So our eyes look to you, God Most High, until you show us your mercy! Have mercy on us, YHWH, have mercy! We have endured so much contempt. We have endured far too much ridicule from the wealthy, too much contempt from the arrogant! —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) Mark 6. 1-13 After leaving there, Jesus came into his own town, followed by the disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and the many listeners were astonished and said, “Where did he learn all this?  What is this wisdom that has been granted, and these miracles that are performed by his hands? Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” They found these things to be stumbling blocks. Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometowns and among their own relatives and in their own households.” And he could work no miracles there, apart from laying his hands upon a few sick people and healing them;  their lack of faith astounded him. He made the rounds of the neighboring villages instead, and spent the time teaching. Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts. They were to wear sandals but, he added, “Do not take a spare tunic.” And Jesus said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you leave it, shake off the dust from the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.” And so they set off, proclaiming repentance as they went. They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) Prayer God of grace and powerful weakness, at times your prophets were ignored, rejected, belittled, and unwelcome. Trusting that we, too, are called to be prophets, fill us with your Spirit, and support us by your gentle hands, that we may persevere in speaking your word and living our faith. Amen. —https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu Credo As followers of Jesus Christ, living in this world— which some seek to control, but which others view with despair— we declare with joy and trust: Our world belongs to God! From the beginning, through all the crises of our times, until God's Kin-Dom fully comes, God keeps covenant forever. Our world belongs to God! God is Sovereign! Let the earth be glad! Christ is Triumphant; the rule of justice and peace has begun. Hallelujah! The Spirit is at work, renewing creation. Praise be to God! We rejoice in the goodness of God, renounce the works that are not of justice, or of peace, and dedicate ourselves to holy living. As covenant partners, called to faithful obedience, and set free for joyful praise, we offer our hearts and lives to do God's work in his world. With tempered impatience, eager to see injustice ended, we expect the Day of God. And we are confident that the radiance which shines in the present shadows will fill the earth when Christ appears. Come, Christ Jesus! Our world belongs to you. —from “Our World Belongs to God," articles 1, 2, 6. Posted on the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship website.  Prayer Of Reconciliation  Forgive us, O God, for how easily we forget that freedom in Christ binds us to love both enemy and neighbor,  and calls us to welcome the stranger and alien among us. We too easily fall into the trap of assuming our side is right, and we have the lock on grace for this world.  And centered in our righteousness, we believe it is our right to cast out the other. With the angry words we speak, and with the ways we keep silent, we harm others in the name of freedom.  Remind us, O God, that true freedom in Christ binds us to one another. In the things we have done for the name of independence, and in the things we have left undone in the name of freedom, forgive us O God. Bind our hearts to our neighbor once again. For true freedom knows no border or boundary or bias.  So, reconcile us together into the freedom of Christ once again.  In your Holy Name we pray, Amen. —For a Nation Celebrating Freedom by Cathy Kowley (https://cmkolwey.com) Assurance of Grace Paul reminds us that in Christ there is no longer Greek or Jew, no longer male or female, but that we are all one in Christ, and in that oneness, we find freedom in Christ and are bound to one another in love. Grace frees us to love and serve each other in Christ’s name. Amen. —For a Nation Celebrating Freedom by Cathy Kowley (https://cmkolwey.com) Prayers Of The People   Our gracious God, we bow in gratitude and express our praise to you this day.  You have planted us in a most beautiful part of the world. We praise and thank you for your goodness.   We thank you for the beauty of our lakes surrounded by magnificent pines which reach to the sky.    We thank you for the hills and valleys and for winding country roads which bring us to behold beauty we did not know existed.   We thank you for those serendipitous moments when we come across wildlife and when your world of nature becomes alive and vibrant and exciting.   We thank you for the sounds of the woods. We thank you for the different and beautiful songs of the birds and for the splendid beauty with which you have painted them differently and with such striking colors. We thank you for the serenity of sunset skies ablaze with pinks, oranges, and purples.   We thank you for many moments of solitude when we feel the peace and harmony. In these summer months renew us for the Christian journey. Instruct us for ministry in our time. Send us forth with authority as you sent your disciples. Teach us how to be sensitive to the culture in which we live and to hear and understand its needs.   Teach us how to frame the good news for our time.   Teach us how to trust you in the journey of life and to know that you go before us. Teach us how to gain mastery over the demons of modern life and to live abundant lives.  Amen. —Richard Einerson: Prayers Of the People (http://www.richardeinerson.com) Prayer of Dedication  Gracious God, we cannot purchase our freedom.  We can only thank you for setting us free.  We cannot boast of our independence.  We can only praise you for being so dependable.  We cannot claim anything for ourselves.  We can only proclaim that your realm of love and mercy is at hand.  Therefore we thank you, praise you, and dedicate our lives to following Jesus. —Slemmons, Timothy Matthew. The Joyful Feast: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship, Year C. (altered) Sending As people are sent out today, invite them to take an image from the past that helps them shape the future. May the past be the beginning of the future for you. May the faith be the beginning of eternity for you. May the way be all the steps that led you here. And may love be the guide that takes you further May the God of the past and present and future, be the God of today and tomorrow and yesterday, and may we look back to this point in time and know God has been here, and leads us on. —https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk
A BEAD AND A PRAYER
	CROSS Worshipping God is our duty and our joy. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. We are united by the Holy Spirit, whether together and apart. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. Our prayers, our meditations, our hopes form a holy communion in this hour. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. In silence, in song, in scripture, in speaking, God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. Let us join together in praising the One who provides for all creation. God’s grace is sufficient for all our needs. —Julia Seymour, https://revgalblogpals.org (ELCA, USA) INVITATORY Holy God who is Love, make our hearts and minds open and hospitable households for your gospel. Grant us the faith that we will welcome prophets among us. Strengthen us to hear words of truth, to withstand their conviction, and to join in the work of your kin-dom. May we find more comfort in sharing than in possessing, in hoping than in holding, and in “we” than in “me”. Amen. —Julia Seymour, https://revgalblogpals.org (ELCA, USA) CRUCIFORM The Prayer Of Jesus (adapted)      Life-Giver, Pain-Bearer, Love-Maker.           Source of all that is and that shall be.      Father and Mother of us all, Loving God, in whom is heaven:      The hallowing of your name echos           through the universe!      The way of your justice be followed by all peoples of the world!      Your heavenly will be done           by all created beings!      Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.      With the bread we need for today, feed us.           In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.      In times of temptation and test, strengthen us. From trials too great to endure, spare us.      From the grip of all that is evil, free us.           For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,      now and forever. Amen. —The New Zealand Prayer Book WEEK 1 II Samuel 5. 1-10  ■ All the tribes of Israel gathered at Hebron and said to David, “We are your own flesh and blood. In the days when Saul ruled, it was you who led Israel on our military campaigns. And God Most High said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel and be our commander of Israel.’ ” ■ All the elders of Israel came to David at Hebron, and David made a pact with them before God Most High. Then they anointed David ruler of Israel. ■ David was thirty years old and his reign lasted for forty years. He ruled in Hebron in Judah for seven-and-a-half years, and later reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ■ David and his army took Jerusalem by attacking its inhabitants, the Jebusites. The Jebusites said to David, “You cannot enter here: even the lame and blind will trounce you.”  ■ They said this to make it clear that even they could defend the city against David. Nevertheless, David captured the hilltop fortress of Zion, and it is now called the City of David. ■ David said on that day, “Anyone who conquers the Jebusites will have to use the water tunnel to reach ‘the lame and the blind,’ that is, David’s enemies.”  That accounts for the saying, “The lame and the blind will not enter the Temple of God Most High.” ■ So David took the fortress and renamed it “City of David.” He built a wall around it, from the supporting terraces and working inward. And David became more and more powerful, for God Most High was with him. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) CRUCIFORM God of humility, we confess before You those times we have been entitled in a way that was not kind or good. We have used the lowly status of others to push ourselves up, or gossiped about a family, a person, or a group of people in unkind words. We confess to You those times we have taken offence where none was meant and we confess those times we have used being offended to puff up our pride and put others down. Eternal God, who shows us the true meaning of humility in death and crucifixion, forgive us our sins of pride and entitlement. Eternal God, who gives us the gift of resurrection and forgiveness, take from us now our weight of sin and let us release those guilty feelings that we may be ready to forgive others more kindly in our turn. Amen. —https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk WEEK 2 Psalm 48 ■ How great is God Most High, how worthy of praise in the city of God Most HIgh,on God’s holy mountain—beautiful and lofty, the joy of all the earth!  ■ Mount Zion, “the heart of the earth,” is the city of the great Sovereign. And for all its citadels, God is Zion’s true fortress. Look—the rulers joined forces and made their attack. ■ But when they saw Zion, they were terrified and fled, quaking in their boots, screaming in pain like a woman in labor. ■ Just as we had heard reports that you smashed the ships of Tarshish with a strong east wind, so we now see with our own eyes in the city of the God of Hosts, in the city of God Most High: it is God who makes Zion secure forever. ■ O God, we meditate on your love within your Temple. ■ As your Name reaches the ends of the earth, O God, so does your praise; justice fills your right hand. Mount Zion rejoices, and the villages of Judah celebrate because of your judgments. Walk throughout Zion—make the rounds and count the towers! ■ Ponder its ramparts, examine its citadels, so that you can tell a future generation that God is our God, forever and ever—and God will guide us even to our last day. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) CRUCIFORM Forgive us, O God, for how easily we forget that freedom in Christ binds us to love both enemy and neighbor,  and calls us to welcome the stranger and alien among us. We too easily fall into the trap of assuming our side is right, and we have the lock on grace for this world.  And centered in our righteousness, we believe it is our right to cast out the other. With the angry words we speak, and with the ways we keep silent, we harm others in the name of freedom.  Remind us, O God, that true freedom in Christ binds us to one another. In the things we have done for the name of independence, and in the things we have left undone in the name of freedom, forgive us, O God. Bind our hearts to our neighbor once again. For true freedom knows no border or boundary or bias.  So, reconcile us together into the freedom of Christ once again.  In your Holy Name we pray. Amen. —For a Nation Celebrating Freedom by Cathy Kowley (https://cmkolwey.com) WEEK 3 II Corinthians 12. 1-10  ■ I must go on boasting, however useless it may be, and speak of visions and revelations from God. I know someone who fourteen years ago was caught up in the third heaven. ■ Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—only God knows. And I know that this person—whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know, only God knows—was caught up to paradise to hear words that cannot be uttered, words that no one may speak. ■ About this person I will boast, but I will do no boasting about myself, unless it be about my weaknesses. And even if I were to boast, it wouldn’t be foolish of me, because I am speaking the truth. But I refrain, so that no one will think more of me than is justified by what I do or say. ■ Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh—a messenger of Satan to beat me—to keep me from exalting myself! ■ Three times I begged God that it might leave me. And God said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  ■ Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  ■ So I am content with weakness, with mistreatment, with distress, with persecutions and difficulties for the sake of Christ; when I am powerless, it is then that I am strong. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) CRUCIFORM Holy One of Nazareth, we see you calm storms, heal illness, even restore life, yet we still struggle to trust you. You send us out, but we want to stay home. You provide partners for the journey, but we want to go it alone. You give us authority over evil, but we don’t know how to use it. You say we need only the clothes on our back and a staff in our hand, but we prefer the extras that give us a sense of importance. You tell us to accept hospitality, but we don’t like to put people out, or feel indebited to someone else. You say that if people are unkind, we should simply shake the dust off of our feet, but we would rather get mad and get even. We have much to learn from you, Jesus, about traveling gracefully through this life. Forgive our failings and grant us a deeper trust. —Joanna Harader. Spacious Faith. https://spaciousfaith.com (altered) WEEK 4 Mark 6. 1-13 ■ After leaving there, Jesus came into his own town, followed by the disciples. When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and the many listeners were astonished and said, “Where did he learn all this? What is this wisdom that has been granted, and these miracles that are performed by his hands? ■ Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters here with us?” They found these things to be stumbling blocks. ■ Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometowns and among their own relatives and in their own households.” And he could work no miracles there, apart from laying his hands upon a few sick people and healing them; their lack of faith astounded him.  ■ He made the rounds of the neighboring villages instead, and spent the time teaching. ■ Then Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs, giving them authority over unclean spirits. He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts. They were to wear sandals but, he added, “Do not take a spare tunic.” ■ And Jesus said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you leave it, shake off the dust from the soles of your feet as a testimony against them.” ■ And so they set off, proclaiming repentance as they went. They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (adapted) CRUCIFORM O God, what you have asked is not easy to do... With your Spirit, we’ll do it anyway! The task is so big and requires the best and the worst of us... With your Spirit, we’ll do it anyway! It is not easy to bury the ego, but we must for the sake of your mission... With your Spirit, we’ll bury it anyway! When we protest the things that aren’t of you, we’ll be persecuted... With your Spirit, we’ll protest anyway! Reconciliation is more than what we’ve bargained for, and training costs more than what we expected to pay... With your Spirit, we’ll reconcile anyway! Loving requires a level of vulnerability that is scary as scary can be... With your Spirit, we’ll love anyway! With the boldness of the Holy Spirit, we’ll do your work anyway! —Valerie Boyer, Africana Liturgical Resources. Edited by Safiyah Fosua (inspired by Mark 6:7-13) INVITATORY Gracious God, we cannot purchase our freedom.  We can only thank you for setting us free.  We cannot boast of our independence.  We can only praise you for being so dependable.  We cannot claim anything for ourselves.  We can only proclaim that your realm of love and mercy is at hand.  Therefore we thank you, praise you, and dedicate our lives to following Jesus. —Slemmons, Timothy Matthew. The Joyful Feast: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship, Year C. (altered) CROSS There is One who can prevent you from falling and make you stand pure and exultant in the presence of eternal glory. To God, the only God, who saves us through the Messiah, our Sovereign, be glory, majesty, authority and power—who was before all time, is now, and will be forever. Amen. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (Jude 1. 23-24)