How Did We Get Here?

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.

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 on earth. With the bread we need for today, feed us. In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us. In the 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.

Gracious Creator, Sower of life, you know the complicated histories that have carried us to this moment. You know the names of all our generations, for you are there in each story of falling away and turning home, in our long years of wandering, and in the shining moments when we recognize your presence and find the grace to abide in your love.

Mother-Father God, thank you for making us siblings, coheirs with Christ, siblings of one another, bearing witness with the Spirit that we are the children of God.

Incarnate One, all of creation is groaning, and so we dare to ask that you would come to us; be born again in us. In the midst of our boredom, our self-congratulations, our closeted vision, startle us with the tearing, the cry, the first breath of life that will not be restrained. Strengthen us in the fruits of the Spirit, and teach us to be your living prayer for the world.

Mother-Father God, thank you for making us siblings, coheirs with Christ, siblings of one another, bearing witness with the Spirit that we are the children of God.

We pray for all who flee from pasts by which they are haunted. We lift up all who feel abandoned by a future for which they had hoped. We plead for all who do not know that they are loved and chosen.

Mother-Father God, thank you for making us siblings, coheirs with Christ, siblings of one another, bearing witness with the Spirit that we are the children of God.

Help us to trust that you are at work in every mingled heart, every conflicted community. Nourish the life you plant within us, that we might keep seeding the world with your truth and your grace; in the name of Jesus who came to reveal your love for all of your very good creation. Amen.

Harvesting God, as we receive your Word this day, lead our hearts to openness and acceptance of your way of love. By your Holy Spirit we pray. Amen.

¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. ¹⁸ I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God, ²⁰ for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be set free from its enslavement to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning together as it suffers together the pains of labor, ²³ and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what one already sees? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. ²⁶ Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words. ²⁷ And God, who searches hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The Parable of Weeds among the Wheat ²⁴ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while everybody was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. ²⁷ And 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?’ ²⁸ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he replied, ‘No, for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let 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.’ ”

How has your understanding of suffering in relation to God’s will and desire for you changed over time? How have you experienced the presence of God through the Holy Spirit amidst times of suffering? Where might the Spirit be calling you out of suffering and into God’s marvelous light?

Friends, the Scriptures tell us that all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Given such a divine affirmation, let us give offerings of thanksgiving! Amen.

Loving and ever-present God, receive these tithes and offerings, our worship, and our lives to your service; in Jesus’ name Amen.

Siblings, go forth as beloved children of God, living in the hope of God’s presence and promise; and may God our parent, Christ our brother, and the Spirit who gives us breath bless you and keep you this day and forevermore. Amen.