MICAH 6.8

Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time ☩ Proper 20C ☩ Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost September 19, 2022 A Liturgy For Worship and Meditation IN PREPARATION FOR WORSHIP Almighty God, you are the source of our lives and our living, you are the inspiration of our love and our giving. Make us a channel for your blessings, that your bounty might be shared with those indebted and that we, your unworthy servants, might be joyfully welcomed into your eternal home. —Slemmons, Timothy Matthew. The Joyful Feast: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship, Year C. SONG Praise With Joy the World's Creator (Click Here For Music) Author: John L. Bell; Author: Graham Maule Tune: Lauda Anima—John Goss 1868 1 Praise with joy the world’s Creator, God of justice, love, and peace, source and end of human knowledge, God whose grace shall never cease. Celebrate the Maker’s glory, pow’r to rescue and release. 2 Praise to Christ who feeds the hungry, frees the captive, finds the lost, heals the sick, upsets religion, fearless both of fate and cost. Celebrate Christ’s constant presence: friend and stranger, guest and host. 3 Praise the Spirit sent among us, liberating truth from pride, forging bonds where race or gender, age or nation dare divide. Celebrate the Spirit’s treasure: foolishness none dare deride. 4 Praise the Maker, Christ, and Spirit, one God in community, calling Christians to embody oneness and diversity. This the world shall see reflected: God is One and One in Three. OPENING WORDS My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Is there no balm in Gilead? How long, O God? How long? Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us. Make haste, O God, to deliver us; Make haste to help us, O God. PRAYER FOR WORSHIP Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires, known, and from whom no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you and worthily magnify your holy Name; the Name that is above all names. Amen. TRISAGION Holy, Holy and Mighty, Holy Immortal One: Have mercy upon us and help us to live as your people— Seeking justice and making peace. For such is of your Kin-Dom and we long be among those Who have been part of your will being done here on earth As it is in heaven. PRAYER OF THE DAY You hear the cries of your people for justice and mercy; you answer our prayers with the gift of your love. You bear our burdens and sets us free. Speak your truth to us; purge and refine us; that we may love and serve you alone. Amen. —Adapted from: Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION God of life, by the power of your Spirit come to us now. Plow our hearts with your living Word until we who are broken become fertile with your love, for we long to bear fruit in a world that is wasting. Amen —Adapted from: Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. FIRST READING—Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 8:18 My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. 8:19 Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: "Is God not in Zion? Is her Sovereign One not in her?" ("Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?") 8:20 "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." 8:21 For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no health-care worker or doctor there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? 9:1 O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! Time and again, in response to dire warnings of impending doom, the people of Jerusalem tended to ask not, “What have I done?” but, “Where is God?” But that’s way too easy an out! It is too easy for us to blame God when something goes wrong in our world. If there is no ‘balm in Gilead,” no restoration of peace and justice in our world, no healing from the wounds of violence and greed and selfishness and dishonesty, it is not for lack of compassion in God!” In our selfish and misguided understanding of life and the world we live in an error of perception. We expect that God will make everything OK even when it is we ourselves who have caused the problem. In such a view of life's dynamics we seldom see ourselves as needing to lament and repent. Much of the power of this text lies in the fact that, as we read the words that convey the prophet’s hurt, we suddenly realize that these same words are describing the hurt of Israel’s God. The weeping and suffering of God imply that there is another way. Repentance seldom happens without the pain of lamentation. As long as people are pretending everything is okay, nothing will change. For injustice, the only balm is justice. Jeremiah paints the picture of a prophet with a broken heart. The people are in pain; the nation is in chaos and there is no relief in sight. Although the nation’s powerful and elite, as is often the case, have brought about this national catastrophe by their injustice and idolatry, still the prophet implores the saving God to show up and reverse the nation’s fortunes. There is no professional distance in Jeremiah. The people’s pain is his pain, and he assumes God’s pain as well. He lives by the hope of God’s care for the intimate details of life, reflecting God’s solidarity with the world. Still the prophet asks, “Where is the Great Physician? Who will heal my people? When will the healing begin?” Jeremiah has hope in God, but for his hope to be authentic, it must come out of the ashes and the peoples’ willingness to confess their sin and begin again. —adapted from: Bruce Epperly, The Adventurous Lectionary, September 18, 2022. PSALMODY—Psalm 79:1-9 79:1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 79:2 They have given the bodies of your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth. 79:3 They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them. 79:4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those around us. 79:5 How long, O God? Will you be angry forever? Will your jealous wrath burn like fire? 79:6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not know you, and on the nations that do not call on your name. 79:7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his habitation. 79:8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors; let your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for your name's sake. The psalmist pleads for God’s deliverance. They have experienced the siege of Jerusalem and the desecration of their temple. The psalmist sees this as consequences of the people’s actions, and that God is angry with the people. The psalmist calls upon God to be angry with the nations that do not know God, who have caused this destruction. Pleading with God to remember their ancestors, the psalmist calls upon God for deliverance and forgiveness of their sins. In the end, what is found is that the people suffer not alone, but that God is suffering with them. In compassion, God shares the pain that the people plea to be relieved of, when in fact the One the psalmist calls upon is the God who experiences all of life with us. The ups and downs, the joys the sadness, the victory over life's challenges and the defeats of the challenges that are not overcome. This is a God who has made covenant with the people that goes as far as dying our death, and living our new beginnings. In God, there is not only compassion but also mercy. In forgiving our sins—all that we have done that was against God and others along with all that we neglected to do which would have been faithful to our love of God and one another—God brings us to a new day, a day wherein we are free from our past and liberated to be a new people. We are given the opportunity to be the people of God's will and way. And, while we will certainly fail in some way now and again, God's forbearance continues to renew and to deliver. SECOND READING—1 Timothy 2:1-7 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2:2 for national leaders and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. 2:3 This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 2:4 who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 2:5 For there is one God; there is also one mediator between God and humankind, the Beloved, Only Begotten, Anointed One, Jesus, himself human, 2:6 who gave a ransom for all——this was attested at the right time. 2:7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. In a message of inclusion, where Paul emphasizes how God includes all, we become keenly aware that the world we live in is not inclusive at all. All means all, without exception. The good news that Paul is announcing is that God erases the dividing lines and unites us. Still, we redraw the lines of division, time and again. All people should be prayed for—regardless as to our opinion of their character and actions. All people should be saved—except those we believe to be unworthy of such grace or evil. God is God of all people—except the poor and powerless whom we blame for their condition with words such as "lazy" or "of a different skin color" or "in their selection of a life mate and sexual partner". In a nation whose ideology and documents speak of a nation that is all inclusive, our history proves otherwise. “All men are created equal” was written by a slave owner in 1776. “Liberty and justice for all” was written in 1892 during Jim Crowe laws and women didn’t have the right to vote. If we take the word of Paul seriously, we cannot look at our history, or at our present context, and claim that our world and nation are based in an understanding that all truly means all. Our current political divisions and the means by which conflict is addressed is not about equality or inclusion, but about privilege and entitlement. When we will all be "woke" enough to understand racism and what needs to change, to see misogyny and how women are oppressed and unequal in the eyes of men and their treatment, to be open enough to know that wealthy white men, not all but many, control legislation and policies that keep the poor in poverty and the under education in a dumbed down existence. GOSPEL READING—Luke 16:1-13 16:1 Then Jesus said to the disciples, "There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 16:2 So he summoned him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.' 16:3 Then the manager said to himself, 'What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 16:4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.' 16:5 So, summoning his master's debtors one by one, he asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 16:6 He answered, 'A hundred jugs of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.' 16:7 Then he asked another, 'And how much do you owe?' He replied, 'A hundred containers of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill and make it eighty.' 16:8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 16:9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. 16:10 "Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 16:11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 16:12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 16:13 No servant can serve two masters; for a servant will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." The parable of Jesus is complex and not easily understood. In fact, the first read comes across as contradictory in numerous ways. Why is dishonesty praised? What are the relationships between all the characters? What does all this mean? There is an executive officer of a business. The business is in providing food products to the client. The middle person is the customer service representation whose main task is being an accountant. Keeping track of accounts and knowing what is owed to the company for its provisions is of utmost importance. The customers are the people who can either be thankful for the accountant's dealings or be in animosity regarding the way their account is being managed. The CEO decides to fire the accountant for being dishonest in the work being done. The accountant is not providing for the company the amount that should represent an amount in relation to the quantity of goods received. Thus, the accountant is portrayed as dishonest. Knowing that the loss of the job resulting in being fired, the dishonest accountant becomes even more dishonest adjusting the company's books to indicate that two customers owe less than they really do, altering the amount of the product they had received. The one who was indebted for 100 jugs of olive oil is told to reduce that number to 50 jugs, and the one who owed for 100 containers of wheat to decrease that amount to 80 containers. Giving these discounts to the customers is in the mind of the accountant a means of winning favor with them. Once the accountant's job is terminated there will be need of help to survive, Hence, in doing something favorable to the customers the accountant is providing for the care that will required. Then comes the part that we would not expect according to our way of thinking. The CEO praises the accountant for the shrewdness in adjusting the accounts as they have been altered. The altering of the books which is more dishonesty on the part of the accountant but rather than receiving a negative response from the company, the accountant is commended. It does not make sense. But then, I would suggest that this is the point. In Luke there is a theme of people's status being reversed. Beginning with Mary's "Magnificat" throughout the narrative when the Kin-Dom of God turns things on its head. In such an upside-down world the dealings of the dishonest accountant are thus something to be appreciated. As if Jesus is preparing to represent the accountant, a brief for the thief uses every possible positive characteristic to plead the case. The shrewd instincts of the accountant become the defense of such actions and the charges raised against this dishonest one. As Greg Carey notes: "Perhaps this is why the lord praises the corrupt manager. The manager’s sagacity lies in his ability to discern his own situation. He may be “ashamed to beg” (16:3), but he is prudent enough to recognize when his status has evaporated and to reach down the social ladder for help. We inhabit a cultural moment at which some people, Christians just as much as anyone else, regard themselves as more deserving of society’s benefits than some of their less worthy neighbors. How does the gospel speak to such superiority and status? Moreover, we inhabit a church that desperately clings to a status long gone, but cannot acknowledge the crisis that will require us to change. What would the “children of this age” do, were they in our place?" The wisdom of those who have worldly experience and know-how bring their insightfulness to the ones who lack that wisdom. —Greg Carey in The Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-25-3/commentary-on-luke-161-13. Dr. Carey is Professor of NT, Lancaster Theological Seminary. PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION Holy One, you are beyond our imagining, beyond our control, beyond our comfort. You will not be bound by our schemes. Even so we maintain appearances, and we jockey with our neighbors, even as we make idols from our fears. But your ways are not our ways. You are not a god of tidy balance sheets or weekly appointments; your love is too deep, your claim too pervasive. You are there when tempers fray and anger erupts. You are there when anxiety overwhelms and we withdraw. You are here in every bruised heart, every calloused hand, every tangled dream. Move among us now. Receive our broken spirits as the offerings we bring this day. Merciful God, breathe deeply into this room your reconciling love, your holy expectation. Allow us now to see the faces of those we have harmed, those we have kept at a distance...[silence] Work in us, O God, until our hearts are softened and we dare to seek our neighbor’s good. Teach us to pray with our hands and our feet and our voices. We lift to you now all that seems irreconcilable in our families, in our schools and workplaces...[silence] in our nation...[silence] in your church...[silence] in your world...[silence] We pray for those we identify as leaders in every sphere of life...[silence] We pray for our president, and for all whose decisions weigh heavily on others...[silence] Even so, O God, give us the courage to name ourselves as those whose responsibility is great. Teach us to tend the world you love: to sow more than we reap, to heal more than we wound, to make room for others as you made room for us. We pray with hearts both eager and reluctant, trusting that you will meet us and call to us just where we are—following in the way of Jesus. Amen. —Adapted from: Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. PRAYER OF DEDICATION Caretaking Creator, instill in us the desire to care for one another and for this earth. Help us to cultivate our relationships, understanding the interconnected nature of creation and our neighbors. Call us away from the fleeting desires of this world and into the intention You instilled in us: to love the earth, to love one another, and to love You. Help us to find our sense of purpose and meaning rooted in the love You have given us, so that we can transform the world to be part of Your realm forever. And help us to remember that You are still caring for us and have given us all we need to change the world for Your beloved community. Amen. —Rev. Mindi, Rev-o-lution. http://www.revolution.com SONG Let Justice Flow Like Streams (Click Here For Music) Author: Jane Parker Huber Tune: ST. THOMAS—Aaron Williams (b. 1731; d. 1776) 1 Let justice flow like streams of sparkling water, pure, enabling growth, refreshing life, abundant, cleansing, sure. 2 Let righteousness roll on as others' cares we heed, an ever-flowing stream of faith translated into deed. 3 So may God's plumb line, straight, define our measure true, and justice, right, and peace pervade this world our whole life through. DISMISSAL WITH BLESSING As you depart, one from another, may you go with joy and care for your brothers and sisters. May you encourage one another in the discipleship of prayer, and service. And may the love and grace of God make you a holy people for God’s honor and glory. Amen. —Adapted from: John Drescher. Invocations and Benedictions for the Revised Common Lectionary.

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