MICAH 6.8

Seventeenth Sunday In Ordinary Time Proper 12 Seventh Sunday after Pentecost Year C July 24, 2022 OPENING PRAYER God, Our Holy Parent, There are moments we feel as though we are separated from you, times where we have chosen our own agendas over you. As we gather to worship today, remind us that despite our wandering souls, you are still “home” to us. Thank you, nurturing God, for welcoming us into this space today. Amen. CALL TO WORSHIP Children of the Living God! God loves us with the love of a parent. Children of the Living God! Despite our failings, God continues to save us. Children of the Living God! We are here to worship the God of love, justice, and grace. Amen. PRAYER FOR WORSHIP God of grace and God of glory, come and be known to us in our gathering together; come and be present in the songs we sing and in the prayers we raise. From the busy byways of life, we come to find once again that you are always present and always ready to receive us. As we affirm our faith this day, deepen the roots of our commitment, that we may learn your calling upon our lives. Surround us now with the love and comfort of your Holy Spirit and the direction and redemption of Christ. Amen. INVITATION TO CONFESSION We know by the dis-ease we feel inside and the world we live in that all is not right. There is something missing, something gone array. Let us confess our brokenness before God and one another that healing may be known and reconciliation be at work in us. PRAYER OF CONFESSION God of Salvation, We are grateful for the gift of your love. A love that has no bounds, a love that keeps reaching out to us, calling us to you. We are more than your people … we are your beloved children. You reiterate throughout scripture your readiness to hear us when we pray to you. God, you are our father. God, you are our mother. God, you are our family. God, you care for us and love us in ways we cannot comprehend. Forgive us when we forget how much you love us. Forgive us for times we are unfaithful to you, times we fail to do as you’ve called. God, thank you for loving us in the most sacred and scandalous ways. You are God, and we trust that you journey with us in all things. Amen. WORDS OF ASSURANCE Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. Ask and it will be given to you. God has promised us grace and forgiveness in the love of Jesus Christ. Come home again and be the people God intended. —The Abingdon Worship Annual edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. FIRST READING—Genesis 18:20-32 18:20 Then the God said, "How great is the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah and how very grave their sin! 18:21 I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me; and if not, I will know." 18:22 So they turned from there, and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the Holy One. 18:23 Then Abraham came near and said, "Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 18:24 Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will you then sweep away the place and not forgive it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Righteous One of all the earth do what is just?" 18:26 And God said, "If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will forgive the whole place for their sake." 18:27 Abraham answered, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to you, O God, I who am but dust and ashes. 18:28 Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" And the God said, "I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there." 18:29 Again he spoke to God, "Suppose forty are found there." God answered, "For the sake of forty I will not do it." 18:30 Then he said, "Oh do not let God be angry if I speak. Suppose thirty are found there." God answered, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there." 18:31 He said, "Let me take it upon myself to speak to God. Suppose twenty are found there." God answered, "For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it." 18:32 Then he said, "Oh do not let God be angry if I speak just once more. Suppose ten are found there." God answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." God is a God of love. God is a God of justice. Why else would Abraham wager with God regarding the people of Sodom and Gomorrah? If God did not love the people God created, God would have no reason to spare anyone from destruction. And, at the same time, it is God's justice that not only allows destruction to come if there is but one who is who is not lacking in being the human person God created. (By the way, it cannot be expressed too often or with too much passion that The true sin of the Sodomites as described in the Bible has nothing to do with same-sex acts per se. Rather, the ancient Sodomites were punished by God for a far greater sins: radical inhospitality—[["Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it" (Hebrews 13:2) . . . the real "guilt" of the Sodomites was the fact that, although they had "pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease," they "did not aid the poor and needy" and were "haughty" (Ezekiel 16:49-50)]]—they did not take care of the stranger's need for food and shelter. They had their daily bread but they did not share it in hospitality.) What we have here is the allegory of "one bad apple spoils the whole bunch"; but in reverse. Abraham debates with God using the logic that even one good person would be reason not to destroy the cities. The prayer of Jesus refers to God as the One whose Name is hallowed (i.e., most holy and to be revered). In such holiness God reasons with Abraham. And, it is clear that this holiness in not void of compassion and mercy. God answered, "For the sake of ten I will not destroy it." For such is the Kin-Dom of God. It is the coming of God's will being the nexus where heaven embraces earth and earth is transformed into the unification of just peace that is God's Realm. PSALMODY—Psalm 85 85:1 O God, you have shown favor to your land; you have restored the fortunes of Jacob, 85:2 taken away the guilt of your people, pardoned all their sin, 85:3 withdrawn all your wrath, turned from your fierce anger. 85:4 Restore us, God of our salvation, renounce your displeasure with us. 85:5 Are you to stay angry with us forever? Will your fury last through all generations? 85:6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? 85:7 Show us your grace, O God; grant us your salvation. 85:8 I am listening. What will God say? 85:9 For God will speak peace to the people, to the holy ones — but only if they don’t relapse into folly. 85:10 Salvation is near for those who revere God, so that glory will be in our land. 85:11 Grace and truth have met together; justice and peace have kissed each other. 85:12 Truth springs up from the earth, and justice looks down from heaven. 85:13 God will also grant prosperity; our land will yield its harvest. 85:14 Justice will walk before God and make God's footsteps a path. What could be a more apt expression of God's Realm than: "Grace and truth have met together; justice and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs up from the earth, and justice looks down from heaven?" I would suggest that this is the very thing we are asking for with the words: Your Kin-Dom come; your will be done . . . on earth as it is in heaven." The words speak to the One who not only makes such possible, but has promised to do so. And, we acknowledge that Supreme Presence and Holy Maker as we pray: "For yours is the Kin-Dom, the power and the glory . . . for ever . . . Amen. SECOND READING—Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19) 2:6 As you therefore have received (the gift of) Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 2:7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 2:8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 2:9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 2:10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 2:11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 2:12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 2:13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 2:14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 2:15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. 2:16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 2:17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 2:18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. Grace is the word we use to talk about how we receive (the gift of) Christ. For Christ stands as the personification of God's love as gift-given mercy and compassion. Paul is the author whose central message is about grace. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). And, grace is reciprocal. Because grace has been freely given to us by God, we are to be sharing grace freely with each other. This is what Jesus speaks of in naming the second of the two greatest commandments: "love one another . . . just as I have loved you, you also should love one another." (John 13.34) It does not surprise us, then, when we hear the prayerful words: forgive us our trespasses/debts as we forgive those who trespass against us/our debtors The reciprocity of grace is noted by Paul in the words: "when you were dead in trespasses . . . God made you alive together with the Anointed One, forgiving us all our trespasses. Thus, we are to be rooted in God so as to be in a relationship of just peace with one another. Firmly grounded in God, we are kept from the test that would be greater than we could resist. "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ." Also, we "do not let anyone disqualify [us], insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God." For our prayer is to keep us from evil, to give us that which we need to be sufficient enough to keep from such un-Godly ways. For God has "disarmed the rulers and authorities" that are at enmity with God's realm. Peace and justice have kissed and in their embrace the Kin-Dom is becoming all in all. GOSPEL READING-Luke 11:1-13 11:1 One day Jesus was praying, and when he had finished, one of the disciples asked, “Rabbi, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 11:2 Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Abba God, hallowed be your Name! May your reign come. 11:3 Give us today tomorrow’s bread. 11:4 Forgive us our sins, for we too forgive everyone who sins against us; and don’t let us be subjected to the test (but rescue us from the evil one).’” 11:5 Jesus said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, a neighbor, and you go to your neighbor at midnight and say, ‘Lend me three loaves of bread, 11:6 because friends of mine on a journey have come to me, and I have nothing to set before them.’ 11:7 “Then your neighbor says, ‘Leave me alone. The door is already locked and the children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to look after your needs.’ 11:8 I tell you, though your neighbor will not get up to give you the bread out of friendship, your persistence will make your neighbor get up and give you as much as you need. 11:9 “That’s why I tell you, keep asking and you’ll receive; keep looking and you’ll find; keep knocking and the door will be opened to you. 11:10 For whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; whoever knocks, is admitted. 11:11 What parents among you will give a snake to their child when the child asks for a fish, 11:12 or a scorpion when the child asks for an egg? 11:13 If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how much more will our heavenly Abba give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?” —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. They asked Jesus, their Rabbi, "Teach us to pray?" And like a good and faithful rabbi, he prayed the prayer that has been a cornerstone in spirituality for two millennia. Their asking indicates three things: (1). they wanted to learn how to pray, (2). they wanted to pray as God would have them pray, and (3). they wanted their prayer to be pertinent to their everyday lives. There is something about being human where the core of our heart of hearts longs to uplift to God an articulate expression of what the Spirit is working within us. As the oft sung hymn would resonate: Prayer is the soul's sincere desire Uttered or unexpressed The motion of a hidden fire That trembles in the breast. Prayer is the burden of a sigh The falling of a tear The upward glancing of an eye When none but God is near. Prayer is the simplest form of speech That infant lips can try Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach The Majesty on high. Prayer is the Christian's vital breath The Christian's native air While angels in their songs rejoice And cry, "Behold! He prays!". Nor prayer is made on earth alone The Holy Spirit pleads And Jesus at the Father's throne For sinners intercedes. O thou by whom we come to God The Life, the Truth, the Way The path of prayer thyself hast trod Lord, teach us how to pray. They wanted their prayer to be spot on with God's will for them. Yes, there are times when prayer laments our brokenness and expresses even the most bane impulses of our days. But, those are the prayers that are easily come to. Adding to that reality of human inconsistency and fickleness, there is the desire to pray rightly—a prayer that not only voices those things we need to pray about, but also becomes somewhat of a zone within which we may trust that our words and intentions and actions are those of God. The prayer that Jesus taught stands like a perimeter of orthodoxy. Not to exclude our other prayerful expressions. Rather, to provide a provision to cover all the bases. Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee. Take my moments and my days; let them flow in endless praise, let them flow in endless praise. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for thee, swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing always, only, for my King. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages from thee, filled with messages from thee. Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer mine. Take my heart it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne, it shall be thy royal throne. They wanted their prayer to be relevant, both in what they sought and what God's will would be. There are those times in life when we want to get it right. We long to be in that place where our life intersects with God in a way that is fitting and apropos to that moment. What is our faith and hope and love if it is not firmly rooted in reality and the creating, redeeming, sustaining presence of God? It is not all that easy to get what we hope will transcend the ordinary while remaining grounded yet extraordinarily divine. Make me a channel of your peace Where there is hatred let me bring your love Where there is injury, your pardon Lord And where there is doubt true faith in You Make me a channel of your peace Where there is despair in life let me bring hope Where there is darkness only light And where there's sadness ever joy Oh, Master grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console To be understood as to understand To be loved as to love with all my soul Make me a channel of your peace It is in pardoning that we are pardoned It is in giving to all men that we receive And in dying that we are born to eternal life Oh, Master grant that I may never seek So much to be consoled as to console To be understood as to understand To be loved as to love with all my soul Make me a channel of your peace Where there's despair in life let me bring hope Where there is darkness only light And where there's sadness ever joy —Songwriters: Sebastian Temple © Jon Cohen Music Limited PRAYER God of justice, your word is light and truth. Let your face shine on us to restore us, that we may walk in your way, seeking justice and doing good. Amen. PRAYER OF INTERCESSION Eternal God, we may only see our small corner of this earth, You will see the whole expanse of countless universes, yet we are called to bring our prayers not only for ourselves, but for those around us. In a world fraught with fear and violence and greed, we pray that darkness is driven out by the light of compassion, of open-handedness, and of peace. Let these not be mere words we pray, but words we put into action through our support of causes and charities and individuals who make it their mission to be the light-bearers in every darksome place. We pray today for the healers who practice their gentleness in every hurt place of heart and soul and body. Where the encouraging word, and the unflinching compassion brings hope like a cleansing flame into every wound. We pray today for the teachers whose gift of thinking and words enrich our mind and help us grow and develop and mature. Especially today we thank You for those who taught us to pray, who formed the ideas and the rhythms and cadences that to this day give texture, color and shape to the relationship we have with You, our living God. We pray for our leaders and country, and all who are called to be the decision-makers in our society at every level. For politicians and economists. For artists and scientists. For farmers and business owners. For those who provide our energy and secure our safety. We pray for our world in its beauty and fragility, the astonishing resources, and the unsustainable demands we make on them. As we seek to form a new relationship with You, our God, and with our sisters and brothers, let us also seek to form a new relationship with this Earth we call our home. Nurturing it, tending it, stewarding its beauty and energy, not only for ourselves, but also for the generations still to come. O Holy God, so much to pray for; one prayer is not enough, so may our pledge this day be to offer new prayers each morning, each night, as we revel in Your presence, humble ourselves in Your mercy, strengthen ourselves in Your love. Through Christ our Redeemer. Amen —The Church of Scotland: https://www.churchofscotland.org.uk THE PRAYER OF JESUS Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver, 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 echo through the universe! The way of your justice be followed by the 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 for ever. Amen. —The New Zealand Book of Prayer GOING FORTH As you go forth, know that you leave with the unfailing love of God. As you leave this place, know that by God’s strength you will be able to face the challenges of the coming week. As you return to your daily lives, know that your pursuit of peace reveals to the world that you are God’s children. Amen.