Hello from the Other Side

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

God of the new covenant, your compassion reaches beyond the mere making and keeping of promises. Teach us to listen to you through one another and attune our hearts to your heart, through Jesus who showed us the way. Amen.

God of our ancestors, you are the God of our future. You showed mercy in the desert and invite us to heal the deathly divisions between all peoples of the earth today.

We pray that the church will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We pray for world leaders and diplomats who seek to make peace among nations. May their success be measured in generations who live free from fear of war.

We pray that the church will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We pray for medical professionals committed to healing, especially those in areas of poverty or violence. May they be guided and guarded by the Spirit who lifts up the broken hearted.

We pray that the church will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We pray for your promised kindom to come, when all wars will cease, and there will be no disease; when courageous faith, hope, and love cast out hatred and poverty. All this we pray in the name of Jesus who showed us the way. Amen.

Loving God, in your power we can transform deserts into places of renewal. May we attune our hearts to the movement of the Holy Spirit that we might entrust our lives to you and live in the way of Jesus. Amen.

Romans 6:1-11 – Dying and Rising with Christ ¹ What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? ² By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? ³ Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For whoever has died is freed from sin. ⁸ But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

²⁴ “A disciple is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; ²⁵ it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! Whom to Fear ²⁶ “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered and nothing secret that will not become known. ²⁷ What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. ²⁸ Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. ³⁰ And even the hairs of your head are all counted. ³¹ So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³² “Everyone, therefore, who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven, ³³ but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. Not Peace, but a Sword ³⁴ “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, ³⁶ and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. ³⁷ “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me, ³⁸ and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Last week, we talked about the tipping point and Popeye — “That’s all I can stands and I can’t stands no more!” But now, we are past the tipping point. Now we are on the other side. Now we are to again be about the way of Jesus and the way of restoration and healing that he taught. What do you need to let go of to get to the other side? What do you need to take on? How does this time post tipping point feel?

God who gave us breath, knows every breath we take. Each breath is a gift from God. Let us present our offerings of thanksgiving for the goodness of the triune God.

Holy Dynamic one God who invites us into Trinity, we lift our voices in praise and thanksgiving for the life in Jesus that we receive from you. You have shown that your mercy overcomes our ways of hate and brings restoration. We thank you for your steadfast love that keeps covenant with your people. In Christ we know the depth of your care for all that you create. We invite the Holy Spirit, already ever-present to guide us in attuning our lives to you. Amen.

As we leave this place, may we leave our fear behind, may we leave with glad hearts, and may we leave with the conviction that all people whom we meet today and in the coming days are beloved children of God. And all God’s people said … Amen.