07/18-19/2020 – Seventh Sunday After Pentecost
July 18, 2020
Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ at Hope Lutheran Church, A very holy and sacred prayer is that which is attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. We all have heard it: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring love. Where there is offence, let me bring pardon. Where there is discord, let me bring union. Where there is error, let me bring truth. Where there is doubt, let me bring faith. Where there is despair, let me bring hope. Where there is darkness, let me bring your light. Where there is sadness, let me bring joy. O Master, let me not seek as much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love, for it is in giving that one receives, it is in self-forgetting that one finds, it is in pardoning that one is pardoned, it is in dying that one is raised to eternal life. Amen. Beautiful. Profound. Asking God to use us to bring his peace, his joy, his love to a world that desperately needs it. This prayer reflects our Baptismal calling to be the hands and feet and heart and voice of God in our world. The world is loud, and it spews hate and ugly things, inviting us to sink to that level. And yet, in the still, small voice of God, we hear a call to be Jesus to others-loving God as much as we can, and showing that love by loving others, our brothers and sisters in the world. That’s the cross-shaped life-to love God by loving others-our baptismal privilege as disciples of Jesus.
My new favorite song on the radio is entitled “Be a Light” by Thomas Rhett and some other performers including Reba McEntire and Keith Urban. If you get a chance, please give yourself the gift of listening to it. You can find it on YouTube under the title and including the name of Thomas Rhett. Here are some of the words: “In a time full of war, be peace. In a time full of doubt, just believe…in a world full of hate be the light. When you do somebody wrong, make it right. Don’t hide in the dark, you were born to shine. In a world full of hate, be a light. …yeah, it’s hard to live in color when just see black and white. In a world full of hate, be a light. “With me, do you hear an echo of the Prayer of St. Francis? This feels like a modern spin on that call to shine with the light of Jesus, the peace of Jesus, the reconciliation of Jesus the love of Jesus in a world that needs it as much now as ever. In our Baptism, Jesus calls us: in a world full of hate, be a light! I see Jesus shining through you!
May God bless you as you shine his light and love in the world. Pray for each other and our world!!! I am praying for you. With love for each of you in Christ, Pr. Jen+
Seventh Sunday After Pentecost July 18-19, 2020
PRAYER OF THE DAY Let us pray: Faithful God, most merciful judge, you care for your children with firmness and compassion. By your Spirit nurture us who live in your kingdom, that we may be rooted in the way of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
READING Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Jesus tells a parable about the coexistence of good and evil in this world. God’s judgment will remove all evildoers and causes of sin, but not until the end of human history.
A reading from Matthew. 24[Jesus] put before [the crowds] another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ 28He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ” 36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!” The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
HOMILY In a classic strip of the famed “Peanuts” newspaper cartoon, Lucy explains to her little brother Linus about the existence of good and evil. She tells him that he, like others, have inside these two forces. Linus looks at his stomach with a distressed look on his face and declares, “I can feel them in there fighting.” Humorous, but true.
~~~In today’s gospel, we find Jesus telling a parable that uses a similar image – good wheat and evil weeds, fighting it out in a farmer’s field. It’s also the same story in whatever newspaper any of us read this morning – good and evil fighting it out in the world. There is a force at every level of existence that works against what is good and what is God. There is a force that seeks to destroy the loving nature of creation. There is a force that exerts every effort to suck the lifeblood out of everything that promotes prosperity and health and hope and peace and joy. Throughout the ages, the faithful have personified this sinister force by many names: Satan, the devil, Beelzebub, Lucifer, or “the evil one.” By whatever designation we choose, its intent, its nature, is to un-make what God has created and to deface, distort, and destroy whatever good it may latch onto, as it eats away at it like a parasite.
~~~Through today’s parable, Jesus gives us an illustration of the power of the evil force that can invade every aspect of life. He makes this clear by painting a picture of weeds growing alongside wheat, imitating the good grain and intertwining its roots and growth with what was planted by the farmer, who stands for Christ. And how did the weeds get into the field? Jesus says simply that the weeds came from an enemy, the devil, the evil one.
~~~“An enemy of God” is as good an answer as we will ever find for the source of that which works against God. In the rite of Holy Baptism, we know this enemy as “”the devil and all forces that defy God, the powers of this world that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw you from God as we profess that we are born children of a fallen humanity”. We recognize at the very beginning of our life in Christ that we are constantly invaded by the “weeds.” Part of us being human.
~~~And though we renounce the evil that the weeds represent, we also recognize something else in our baptismal vows. We see that our lives, like the field in the parable, grow with evil intertwined among the grace, love, and godly obedience— mixed and threatened by our human desire to sin. And we know from experience that no matter how hard we work to be faithful, none of us will ever totally avoid the corrupting influences and tempting thoughts that lead us to go against the values of God. Sin, the influence of the Devil, is strong among us. We are both saints and sinners—simul Justus et peccator, Martin Luther said.
~~~~At the same time saints and sinners. God’s love poured into us in baptism offers forgiveness and a washing away of our sin, but those pesky sins will keep cropping up like weeds in your garden and mine with alarming speed and regularity. Sins-old and new-keep showing up so we keep needing to rely on our Baptismal washing as God again and again forgives us and invites us to allow his Good, the seed, the wheat, the goodness of God to grow in us.
~~~~We are both saints and sinners-wheat and weeds. The big problem in the church is that we often rely on the saint part of this promise and forget our sinful part. Like it’s a done deal and those sins won’t keep popping up. We in the church tend to focus on the sins of OTHERS-how THEY fail, how wrong THEY are-how sinful THEY are-instead of working on the sins within us. We become energetic weed pullers in other people’s lives. We forget about the weeds in our own.
~~~As an old saying says “when you point at someone else, the pointer finger is pointing at them, but the rest of your fingers are pointing directly back at you “ Jesus’ call to let the wheat and weeds grow together is counter-intuitive to us. We want to DO something-focusing on the sins around us without fixing the sin within. But we can’t really change the world if we don’t first address OUR OWN failings, OUR WON faults, OUR OWN sin. If we can change our lives to lead with love, the love of God, then God can use us to make difference in the world. That is our baptismal challenge.
~~~Yes, we are at the same time saints and sinners-wheat and weeds-an intricate combination of the two. Like in Linus’s tummy, the fight continues. Our call is to work on our own weeds and nurture the wheat, the Good, the love that God has planted within each of us. Nurturing the good—-reading the love story which is Scripture, praying to the one who loves us most, practicing forgiveness to others as we have been forgiven, paying kindness forward, loving as freely and as generously as Jesus loves us.
~~~In the conventional wisdom of the world, the teaching of this parable seems crazy and impossible. We want to change the world in Jesus’ name-we want to fix the weeds we see, and boy, there are A LOT of them!!! Sometimes it feels like we are drowning in the weeds of the world-pandemic, mixed messaging, political chaos, family fractures, and so much more. We want to tackle the job of being good weeders. But Jesus’ word to us is “WAIT.” Fix yourself with the help of the Spirit and trust that God will do the rest.
~~~~Hard as that is for us as industrious weed pullers for God, we know that it is possible from studying the leadership of those like Henry David Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Rep John Lewis, and Martin Luther King Jr., who chose not to tear at the weeds, but to nurture the wheat. They learned what they practiced from Christ.
~~~Dying on the cross, Jesus did not seek to destroy his enemies who sowed the weeds that choked out his life. Rather, he forgave them. He looked to God to sort it out in the end. And we can – in the best moments of living out the vows of our baptisms and as we faithfully look at the end of the passion story – discover that the power of the Resurrection proves the truth of the parable of the wheat and weeds. In so doing, we will recommit ourselves to leaving the weeds to God. God proves again and again that HIS love is stronger than anything the Devil can throw at us. Love is stronger than any evil from within or without. God’s love helps us to live—building bridges instead of walls, forgiving others, and helping us care for folks who, like us, are filled with wheat and weeds, too. That’s how in Jesus we LIVE., Our baptismal call here and in the world around us is that we are to be led by the Spirit to serve God and share Christ’s love with all—turning our hearts and souls to nurturing the wheat, the Good, the LOVE that God has planted in US. Amen.
PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION Confident of your care and helped by the Holy Spirit, we pray for the church, the world, and all who are in need. A brief silence.
God of the harvest, you sow the good seed of the gospel of Jesus Christ into your field. Help your church throughout the world to be both diligent and patient, full of resolve and gentleness, that our witness may be faithful to your intentions. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of all space and time, your whole creation groans in labor pains, awaiting the gift of new birth. Renew the earth, sky, and sea, so that all your creation experiences freedom from the bondage of decay. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of the nations, teach us your ways, that we may walk in your truth. Mend the fabric of the human family, now torn apart by our fearful and warring ways. Guide us by your mercy, grace, and steadfast love. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of hope, you accompany those who suffer and are near to the brokenhearted. Open our hearts to your children who are lonely and abandoned, who feel trapped by despair, and all who suffer in any way (especially)….Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of the seasons, in the midst of summer, give us refreshment, renewal, and new opportunities. We pray for the safety of those who travel. We pray for those who cannot take the rest they need. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
God of life, those who have died in you shine like the sun in your endless kingdom. We remember with thanksgiving the saints of all times and places and saints close to us. Gather us with them on the day of salvation. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
In the certain hope that nothing can separate us from your love, we offer these prayers to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
OUR FATHER…
BLESSING Almighty God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit be with us now and always. Amen.
DISMISSAL We go in peace. Christ is with us as together we are led by your Spirit to serve you and share your love with all people. Thanks be to God!!!
Hope Lutheran Church-Gulf Cove
14200 Hopewell Ave, Port Charlotte, FL 33981
Church phone: 941-697-2345
Email: hopeluthern@comcast.net
Pr. Jen Schaefer-cell-813-391-2027
Pr. Jen’s email: hopeluthern1@comcast.net
Our purpose at Hope is that we are led by the Spirit to serve God and share Christ’s love with all!
HOPE HAPPENINGS We welcome all who worship with us today. Please complete one of the visitor cards at our guest table. If you would like to make Hope your church home, please speak to Pastor Jen. Everyone is welcome at Hope Lutheran Church.
Next Week’s Readings: I Kings 3:5-12; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew13:31-33, 44-52
The July thru September Word in Season Devotionals are available on the narthex table.
Attendance last week Income Information
Saturday 8 FY 2020 Actual thru June $72,919.79
Sunday 8:30 5 FY 2020 Budget thru June $76,583.41
Sunday 10:00 23 FY 2019 Actual thru June $74,581.41
LAY SERVANTS Altar Guild – Gail Zahs & Delores Hall Ushers – Alan Beicht & Larry Brady
PRAYER LIST Please call the church office or email Pr. Jen with any prayer requests you may have so they may be shared with the congregation.
Please continue to hold in prayer:
Laura Everill, daughter of Phyllis and Tom Agness, residing in a healthcare facility
Walter Crowley, husband of Kathryn and father of Ginger Toomire recovering from pneumonia
Peter Schwenke, uncle of Lorraine Maass in need of healing
Joyce, sister in law of Elaine Dougan, recovering from brain cancer surgery
Arthur St. Amand and Joanne, in need of God’s healing touch
John Greene, Millie’s husband , recovering from surgery
Suzette, Katie McClay’s friend who is recovering after colon cancer surgery,
Florence, Bob Kostrowsky’s aunt who is recovering in New Jersey
Lois, Lorraine Maass’ friend, in need of God’s healing presence
Kaye Miller, friend of Elaine Dougan, needing God’s comfort and healing
Chery Burke who is in need of healing
Lindsey, asking for God’s protection
Sandy Johnson who is in need of healing
Jean Miller, asking for God’s healing presence.
Those who are in need or ill in any way, those who are lonely, those who are frightened, those who grieve, those caring for those who are ill, those who are victimized by racism
MASKS – Our supply of masks is getting low. Any donation of additional masks would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for your generosity!!!
HOPE’S LOVE PANTRY. Big thank you to Linda Kraigenow who donated and initiated our new Hope’s Love Pantry. If anyone would like to donate nonperishable goods for our pantry please put items on the shelves of our pantry located on the walkway to the left of the main entrance. Also, please let people in our area who may be in need, know that they may take some food from our pantry. No need to sign up. It is anonymous, no questions asked.
NEW FM RADIO STATION. Anyone can now listen to worship in their vehicles by tuning into FM Radio station 88.3. The Sunday morning 8:30 AM parking lot service is being broadcast on FM Radio 88.3. In the near future both the Saturday evening 5:30 PM and Sunday morning 10:00 AM worship services will also be broadcast on our FM Radio station.
HYMN REQUESTS If there are any particular hymns that you would like to hear at worship, please submit the names to Pastor Jen at hopeluthern1@comcast.net. If our licensing agreement permits, look forward to hearing them soon.
HOPES AND DREAMS FOR HOPE – If you have a suggestion for a Hope or Dream for Hope Lutheran Church, Pastor Jen and your council would love to hear it. Please feel free to place any Hope or Dream in the mailbox in the hallway leading to the Fellowship Hall. All requests will be kept confidential and you will receive a timely response.
BIBLES AND BAGELS (or muffins or individually wrapped goodies) Please join us Mondays from 10:00 – 11:00 AM for Bible Study and sharing in the Fellowship Hall. Physical Distancing and sharing in Scripture and discussion are blessings we can share together!! All are welcome!!
PSALMS IN CONVERSATION AND OTHER THINGS is a beginning – to connect with and pray with and for each other and the larger community. If you are willing to begin this conversation with Pastor Cheryll, contact her at cheryll.kaukis@gmail.com
KIWANIS SHOES FOR KIDS PROJECT The Kiwanis Shoes for Kids project will continue through July 26th. Please bring all new tennis shoes to church and place in the bin in the narthex. If you prefer, we will purchase tennis shoes for you if you make a donation to Hope Lutheran. Thank you!
BLOOD DRIVE—DATE CHANGE!!! The Suncoast Blood Drive Mobile Unit will be in our parking lot on August 16 th between 9:30 AM and 1:00 PM. Sign up sheet are available in the narthex. Also you can call the church office at 941-687-2345 to schedule an appointment. There is no age limit for donating blood, and with all successful donations, a Covid 19 antibody test will be administered.
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