Seventh Sunday of Easter
Service of the Word
May 16, 2021
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GATHERING
The gospel for Easter’s seventh Sunday is always taken from the long prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John’s gospel on the night before his death, and always includes Jesus’ desire that his followers will be one as he and the Father are one. This oneness is not mere doctrinal agreement or institutional unity, but mutual abiding, interpenetrating life, mutual love, and joy. This oneness is the work of the Spirit whom we have received but also await. Come, Holy Spirit!
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WELCOME
8 + 5 = 13...simple math. Eight weeks of spring have passed, five more remain; that means our welcome to Nativity keeps getting warmer! It's been a cool season so far in Northern Virginia and that's one thing we can count on changing in the next few weeks; we'll then also be hosting some uninvited guests at our outdoor worship at church for the rest of May...our friendly cicadas. This will be interesting; like the effects of a pandemic you cannot practice for it, but we will remain in place: either quietly in home on email or in the din of the lawn...PB will just talk louder. Don't know when they'll depart, but we shall leave the Easter season next Sunday with the great celebrative festival of the Day of Pentecost.
On Memorial Day weekend, the 30th, Nativity welcomes Pastor Ron Zschoche, who departs his post as Messiah's pastor next week. Pr. Ron will step in to supply for PB on the lawn and in this space, while the Thalackers will be reunited with kids, grandsons, and dog Penny in South Carolina. The following Sunday, June 6th, we'll forego our year long experience of outdoors and email, and you are encouraged to engage with all of our sister congregations of the Metro DC Synod in a live stream worship, led by Bishop Ortiz, that will conclude the weekend's annual Assembly.
Your leadership is actively tracking all the latest data and guidelines, so the remainder of June is still 'up in the air'. We'll miss Carrie on the 13th as she travels to visit family in Minnesota; we certainly wouldn't return indoors without her! As for Father's Day and then PB's Farewell on the 27th, all we can say is stay tuned...there are a lot of moving parts involved in deciding when to return to the sanctuary. Thankfully, 'when' is the only question yet to be answered. We have been graced for the past year with a variety of 'where': screen, drive-in, grove. The 'what' is the reason we are here: there is no endeavor more vital for us than worship. The 'why' and 'Who' merge: God has both commanded and invited us to do so. Whether in print or presence, we gather in the unity of the Spirit, and are led by Same.
This morning we'll address both Readings and the Gospel in the sermon, but I wanted to to sneak in a word on the Psalm. Who doesn't want to be happy? It seems to come and go quicker these days. The Psalm's opening words tell us that happiness is as easy as 1-2-3; you don't even have to do anything to get it! All we need is restraint...the art of not doing. While we certainly aren't avoiding "wicked sinners" on our walk of life, we'll discover no gratification by swallowing the advice and counsel of losers. The sinner you know most intimately is yourself...only sadness awaits if you linger, loiter, and dawdle on that side of you and others. Even if offered, don't sit down in the cheap seats of the 'scornful'. You know the drill: above it all, disdain, derision, arrogance, sarcasm, mockery, ridicule, contempt, disregard. You may pass, just don't park there. Just by not doing those three, the Psalmist then offers what is delightful: the law of the Lord. Since in Christ that law is now Love, therein lies happiness that is light, bright, and right.
Christians receive the gift of baptism, there our joy is found. Baptism is our alpha and omega, and with us every step of the way in our walk between. It's why we've begun our service this season with thanksgiving and song, for baptism and Easter go hand in hand and both show forth God's love for us in a most delightful way. Seasons come and go; Baptism is for all time.
Speaking of time, it's about time we be in Service of the Word...
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THANKSGIVING FOR BAPTISM
All may make the sign of the cross, the sign marked at baptism, as the presiding minister begins.
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Refreshed by the resurrection life we share in Christ,
let us give thanks for the gift of baptism.
Water may be poured into the font as the presiding minister gives thanks.
We thank you, risen Christ,
for these waters where you make us new,
leading us from death to life, from tears to joy.
We bless you, risen Christ, that your Spirit comes to us
in the grace-filled waters of rebirth,
like rains to our thirsting earth,
like streams that revive our souls,
like cups of cool water shared with strangers.
Breathe your peace on your church when we hide in fear.
Clothe us with your mercy and forgiveness.
Send us companions on our journey as we share your life.
Make us one, risen Christ.
Cleanse our hearts.
Shower us with life.
To you be given all praise,
with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God,
now and forever.
Amen.
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GREETING
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all.
Amen
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HYMN OF PRAISE ELW # 619, verses 1 & 7 |
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PRAYER OF THE DAY
Gracious and glorious God, you have chosen us as your own, and by the powerful name of Christ you protect us from evil. By your Spirit transform us and your beloved world, that we may find our joy in your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
Amen.
WORD
First Reading: Acts 1:15-17, 21-26
In the days between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost, Peter oversees the process whereby one of the members of the community of believers is chosen to be the twelfth apostle, in order to fill the vacancy created by Judas’s treachery and death.
15In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16“Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus—17for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 21So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias; and he was added to the eleven apostles.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
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Psalm: Psalm 1
The Lord knows the way of the righteous. (Ps. 1:6)
1Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked,
nor lingered in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2Their delight is in the law of the Lord,
and they meditate on God’s teaching day and night.
3They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither;
everything they do shall prosper.
4It is not so with the wicked;
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes,
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked shall be destroyed.
Second Reading: 1 John 5:9-13
God has borne witness to the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ. Whoever believes in the Son of God believes in the witness of God and has the promise of eternal life.
9If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. 10Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. 11And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
13I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Word of God, word of life.
Thanks be to God.
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia. I will not leave you orphaned, says the Lord. I am coming to you. Alleluia. (John 14:18)
The holy gospel according to Luke.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Gospel: John 17:6-19
In this reading the church hears Jesus’ words on the night before his death—his prayer for his disciples and for all who would believe in him through their words.
[Jesus prayed:] 6“I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; 8for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. 12While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. 14I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 15I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. 16They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. 17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
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SERMON
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and our Lord + Jesus Christ. Amen.
Beginning at the bottom of the dictionary listing of words that begin with SUCC, I have to admit I self identified with most of them. Running my finger up the page we first find 'succumb'. No, I'm not dying, just succumbing to the temptation of retirement. While some might think this a deliverance of sorts, I consider it a gift, where hope and change become synonymous and interchangeable for both Nativity and me, firing for the future our respective imaginations. Besides, I'm not getting any younger!
As to this sermon, I desire that you would find it 'succulent': tender, juicy, tasty. I'm pretty sure some would say it...oh wait, that only has one 'c'. It might resemble 'succotash', filled with plenty of corn. I certainly hope the gospel serves as 'succor', help and comfort in times when we are suffering or in difficulty. I realize no one would brand this as 'succinct'; I admit that while I might be many things, I am not a man of few words.
Which finally led me to the word for which I was searching: 'succession'; defined as "a number of people or things following one after another". So whether speaking to our pastoral transition at Nativity, or literally to everything else, we wait and attempt to anticipate that which will follow, as surely as one day yields to the next.
Our lectionary is constructed so that the First Reading and Gospel are connected and feed off each other; often the first foreshadows that which finds completion in the words and stories of Jesus...that is certainly the case today. Both are succession plans: one replenishes the core of the disciples with Justus following the departure of Judas, the other a prayer from Jesus the night before he died outlining what he desired for his followers after he would return to his Father. Here Jesus sees "sanctification" for disciples as the next step; hence we ready ourselves for Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
While the narrative from Acts mirrors the process in which we are now engaged at Nativity, the metaphor isn't an exact blueprint; just because I am "turning aside and going to my own place", I pray that I'm not filling the role of Judas! There is no guile, disappointment, certainly no betrayal; retirement and reason provide the context, and for whatever the reason, there's a seat to be filled. There were no 'lots cast' in the selection process...and as far as we can tell, no cats lost either.
'Cleromancy'...that's the word for the process where God's will was revealed. The Greek word is 'kleros', the root for our English word 'clergy'; a seemingly random draw was often how pastors were chosen, but the result was seen and trusted as evidence that God was directing the outcome. No one is sure what the process was: smooth stones, short straw, roll of the dice, probably not 'rock, scissors, paper'. This process of divination seems to have a shelf life of just one week; after Pentecost the process of choosing has been left to conversation, prayer, and a vote, based on education, experience, and personal evaluation. Now we trust the indwelling of the Holy Spirit among both parties: understanding that not only is a congregation choosing, but the next pastor is also choosing the church. Whatever the procedure, we know the rubber doesn't meet the road as the end of the process...that is just the beginning. God's selection is proven in the continuing choice both people and pastor make to be together week after week.
Father and Son are together. Father sends Son to and for the world. Father gives Son followers. Son returns to Father. Followers carry on in world, safeguarded and protected, sanctified in the truth. Pentecost is the next step in the sequence of carrying on the gospel of forgiveness and joy. This succession plan, enunciated in a garden on the eve of crucifixion, has been a prayer that has been answered pretty well over a couple thousand years. God takes responsibility for Gospel, then gives us the ability to respond. Sounds like a sound proposal on which to proceed.
Tucked into 'succession' is the word success. This word connotes achievement, a happy outcome, triumph...for that we surely do pray in many ways today. But it's nice to know that here success has been accomplished; the victory over sin, death, and evil has already happened completely and finally in the resurrection of our Lord, Easter...signed and sealed in baptism. With that in heart and mind we trust God to design a way forward for us to implement. If built on love, it cannot fail. We need not ask for something that is already ours in Christ, the compass points rather to our faithfulness in sharing the good news. Hence we are allowed, even encouraged to take a chance on love, equipped with hope, knowing our lot in life is secure even and especially amidst lots of changes coming our way.
We'll close with a story: I remember one of the adventures of my parents, purchasing a lot on a lake on which to erect their retirement cottage. They even bought the kitchen cabinets, stored in our garage until the time came for building. It was a dream that never came to pass; the land was sold and the cabinets ended up in some other kitchen. Such is not the case for us; our plot might be here, but our lot is secured in heaven. And we are building on it even today: the brick of faith is delivered, the beams of hope are already hoisted, the mortar of love mixed, the combination of our dust and baptismal water. You won't need nails...Jesus provides those. We won't settle for rustic, we will go modern in style. For a while, the construction site can be chaotic, noisy, and a bit messy. Slowly but surely plans and promise turn into a house...and so a forever home awaits. Until then, let us remodel and rehab the one we own; undeniable charm and beauty are also found in the here and now.
Jesus is right: we "do not belong to the world". We know, in Christ, that the world, and so much more, belongs to us.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your heart and mind in + Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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HYMN OF THE DAY ELW # 796 |
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NICENE CREED
We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary
and became truly human.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,*
who with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.
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PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION
Alive in the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we bring our prayers before God who promises to hear us and answer in steadfast love.
A brief silence.
Holy God, in Christ Jesus the joy of the church is made complete. Root the church in your Word and unify us as Christ’s body. Send us into the world as your loving people, ready to testify to your Spirit at work. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Mighty God, the world is your handiwork, displaying your creative impulse. Seas teem with life, forests reach up to praise you, and the mystery of life lies deep in the soil. Guard and keep this world for the well-being of all your creatures. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Gracious Sovereign, those who follow your ways are like trees planted near streams of water. Establish the leaders of nations and all in authority in your grace and truth. Strengthen them, so that the people they serve will have abundant life. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Generous Savior, you befriend those who are sick, suffering, poor, lonely, outcast, rejected, or sick. Grant healing and love to all in need (especially). Give them tangible signs of your steadfast love. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Creator God, here in this community we share the gift of praying, learning, and supporting one another. Give us thankful hearts as we claim the gifts that are unique to us and keep us from being envious of others with different gifts. Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
Here other intercessions may be offered.
Saving God, your wonderful promise is the gift of eternal life in Jesus. Through the witness of those who have died in you, strengthen us now in this gift of life. We cherish the memory of your saints (especially). Hear us, O God.
Your mercy is great.
In the hope of new life in Christ, we raise our prayers to you, trusting in your never-ending goodness and mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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PEACE
Call or text someone with whom you may ordinarily sit on Sundays, or a friend, family member, neighbor, or co-worker. Share the Peace of the Lord with them.
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OFFERING
Offer at this time to care for someone that may need you this week,,,and make a commitment to support Nativity in any way you are able.
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PRESENTATION OF GIFTS ELW 408 |
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PRAYER
God of love,
you call us beloved children and welcome us to your table.
Receive our lives and the gifts we offer.
Abide with us and send us in service to a suffering world;
for the sake of your beloved Child, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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LORD'S PRAYER
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those
who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power,
and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
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BLESSING
May our glorious God grant you a spirit of wisdom
to know and to love the risen Lord Jesus.
The God of life,
Father, ☩ Son, and Holy Spirit,
bless you now and forever.
Amen.
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DISMISSAL
Alleluia! Christ is risen.
Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!
Go in peace. Share the good news. Alleluia!
Thanks be to God. Alleluia!
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NATIVITY LUTHERAN CHURCH
1300 COLLINGWOOD RD
ALEXANDRIA, VA 22301
Brent H. Thalacker, Pastor
Cell: 571-236-4976
bthalacker@cox.net
momwendel57@gmail.com
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