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Joining the Feast

Year CFall 2016

Proper 18 to First Sunday of Advent


September 4, 2016—November 27, 2016

What you will !nd in Joining the Feast!The Church Year Calendar Describes the important church festivals and special days for the coming season. It provides theological reflections on their importance for the church’s life and our own lives.

The Shape of the SeasonPresents an overview of the focus scriptures for the weeks in the coming season. It discusses the biblical and theological significance of each of the passages.

Joining Worship and Learning: Making the Connections and Time with ChildrenThis section of Joining the Feast includes the stories on the focus scriptures from the multi-age course. These stories can be used in the children’s time during worship. A single sheet children’s activity page featuring the focus scripture is included to be used as a children’s worship bulletin, one for each Sunday. During these final weeks of the church year and Ordinary Time, several focus scriptures are taken from letters in the New Testament. Notice that some songs are used by several age levels but not in the same session. If you are interested in including a prayer, poetry, or artwork from an age level, speak with the leader in advance. May your congregational worship be enlivened by these suggestions to join worship and learning.

Joining Mission and LearningHelp the participants in Feasting on the Word Curriculum resources connect with existing service opportunities in your congregation. Review this list and offer suggestions to the leaders. Give this chart to the chair of the mission or outreach committee so the work of the committee can be strengthened through the church school.

Litanies and PrayersA selection of poetic prayers and responsive readings that helps worship leaders connect the church’s educational and worship experiences to find fullness and blessing in the praise and service of God.


September 4, 2016—November 27, 2016

Joining the FeastWe invite you to “Join the Feast”! Our exciting Feasting on the Word Curriculum offers great opportunities for the local church. Pastors, educators, and participants can experience the wonder of God’s nourishing word to us. For church schools, for study groups, and in preparation for teaching and preaching, the resources here will deepen and strengthen our faith. We have an amazing “feast” set before us! We desire and can find further understanding in our faith—of who God is and what God has done! Joining the Feast helps pastors, educators, and worship leaders plan for education and worship. We want to assist in reflecting on how to incorporate scriptural and seasonal emphases across different parts of the church’s life. Joining the Feast can be shared in education and worship committees. It enables important biblical themes to be integrated into the church’s study and worship experiences. A chart of suggestions for ways educational emphases can be used in worship is a feature of what follows here. Church school teachers can discuss these materials with each other to enhance education for all age levels in the church. Pastors who plan their lectionary preaching will find taking an overall look at this church season to be useful for their preparations. In all this we want to join teaching and preaching. We want the church’s educational and worship experiences to find fullness and blessing in the praise and service of God! An important goal for pastors and educators in the church is to connect or join the church’s educational experience with the church’s worship experience. People of all ages who participate in church school study can find their Christian faith enhanced when the Scriptures read and proclaimed in worship reinforce and expand what they have been considering in their educational time. Education and worship can be mutually supportive in helping God’s word in Scripture come alive in the Sunday morning experience. Consideration of the same lectionary reading in preaching can deepen the insights gained in church school. Pastors who want to build on what has been done in education welcome this Feasting on the Word Curriculum as a way to prepare congregational members for directions into which the sermon can lead. Those who participate in the education time will find the insights gained there enhanced by preaching which considers the same passage and brings God’s word to bear in fresh and nourishing ways. So as we “Join the Feast,” joining the church’s educational and worship dimensions can bring to life the richness of God’s word in Scripture.

Donald K. McKim

Joining the Feast


Feasting on the Word Curriculum: Teaching the Revised Common Lectionary

Feasting on the Word Curriculum is an exciting, ecumenical, downloadable curriculum resource. It incorporates the uniqueness of the Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary series (12 volumes; Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008–11), which provides four different approaches to each of the biblical passages for each of the lectionary readings in the Revised Common Lectionary. Feasting on the Word Curriculum: Teaching the Revised Common Lectionary is designed for classroom use in the church among various age levels, including children, youth, and adults. Adaptable to a variety of learning settings and teaching styles, this innovative curriculum resource integrates the Feasting on the Word commentary style to explore one of the lectionary passages in ways suitable for all participants. This approach connects worship and faith formation like no other lectionary curriculum ever has. Each age level of Feasting on the Word Curriculum provides comprehensive, accessible biblical background for teachers from four perspectives.

What? (Exegetical) Basic information about the backgrounds and meanings of Scripture is essential to understanding. This stream asks, “What?” What are the important things to know about the contexts, language, and settings of the biblical passage?

Where? (Theological) To understand the meanings of passages, we also need to ask, “Where?” Where is God in this passage? Where are God’s will and activities being expressed? Theological questions about where God’s word comes to us in the passage are significant.

So What? (Pastoral) The implications of the passage for our Christian lives make the biblical passage come alive. We ask, “So what?” What does this passage mean to me? What does it mean for my relationship with God and other people?

Now What? (Homiletical) Biblical passages shape our understandings and lives in the church. They connect us with needs in God’s world. So we ask, “Now what?” This prompts us to reflect on how our life and the church’s life can live out what the passage is saying.

Joining the Feast


The Church Year CalendarThe beginning of September and the U.S. holiday Labor Day traditionally mark the beginning of the fall season for churches and signal that renewed and growing church programs will begin after the months of summer. This is often a time of reinvigorated attempts in the church to engage people of all ages in the life of faith and discipleship. It is a time when revitalized efforts in study and learning, mission and ministry, and worship and devotion can take place. This is a time when important biblical texts will be focused on in Feasting on the Word Curriculum. While there are no special feast Sundays in the church during this period until Reign of Christ Sunday, two other significant Sundays stand out: World Communion Sunday (the first Sunday in October) and Reformation Sunday (the last Sunday in October). These two celebrations help represent the identities of Christians in the Reformed theological tradition. World Communion Sunday was begun in Shadyside Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1933. In 1940, the Federal Council of Churches, which is now the National Council of Churches, endorsed this Sunday and promoted it to churches worldwide as a time to celebrate our unity as Christians in Jesus Christ. Now Christians in churches throughout the world celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper on this Sunday. The differences in location, language, and theological traditions are recognized but in the service of a greater unity: our unity as disciples of Jesus

Christ who are united with him by faith and who are united with one another throughout the world by bonds of love. This wonderful Sunday lifts our vision to the church catholic, spread all over the globe, and draws us

together in our common love for Christ and for others. We need this Sunday every year formally to lift us beyond our narrowness and parochialism to our greater unity in Jesus Christ. Local churches will find ways to enact this vision of our unity with Christ and with one another. On this Sunday, all people in the congregation—from youngest to oldest—can realize and proclaim our oneness in the family of God. It is an exciting Sunday to explore and expand our vision of the church’s common foundation in Jesus Christ, to seek ways to work together with other Christian churches, and to anticipate the coming kingdom when the love and worship of God will be gloriously real! Reformation Sunday reminds us of those who came before us in the Protestant Reformation of Europe in the sixteenth century. Protestant churches today owe their origins to those who, in this period, witnessed to the faith they believed was taught by Scripture and should be lived through churches. The struggles of those times produced a variety of interpretations of what Scripture taught and thus a proliferation of churches that emerged from this period of church history. Today, Reformation Sunday is a time when our denominational heritages can be celebrated. We can express thanks and gratitude for the faith that has been passed on to us in our traditions. We can commit ourselves to renewed efforts to enact this faith in our churches and in our lives. At the same time, however, we can recognize that our denominational traditions are just one expression of the breadth of Christian faith itself, and that we are first of all Christians and then members of a denominational tradition.

This wonderful Sunday lifts our vision to the church catholic, spread all over

the globe, and draws us together in our common love for Christ and for others.

Joining the Feast


Another way to put this is to say that we need to get our grammar straight. Our primary identity is as Christians—a noun. Our denominational traditions are adjectives. They are ways in which our Christian faith is expressed, modifiers of the noun Christian. So we are “Presbyterian Christians,” or “Lutheran Christians,” or “Episcopal Christians.” Our denominational traditions give us guidance and directions about what we believe are Scripture’s teachings and emphases. But our denominations serve a larger purpose, a greater goal. They direct us toward how we are to be Christians. Since our primary identity is as disciples of Jesus Christ, our denominational traditions point us toward that great name. Reformation Sunday can be a stirring time in our congregations. While we look to our past and honor it, we also look to our congregational life today and envision how our denominational traditions can enrich and empower us for faithful discipleship in the present and future. God gives us ways of understanding who we are so we can live the lives God calls us to live, whatever our denominational tradition may be. The Protestant Reformation was a time of re-forming. Our congregational and personal lives can be re-formed to renewal of our commitments and service to God in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Reign of Christ Sunday marks the end of the church year. It is a Sunday to look backward in gratitude for God’s Spirit at work in the church through the past year. It is a time to take hope, now that God’s Spirit in Jesus Christ continues to guide and lead the church. It is a time to look ahead, in anticipation of the future

reign of Jesus Christ that is to come. Despite the evil around us and the changes in life we face, we proclaim this Christ who reigns and through whom “God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross” (Colossians 1:20). The final Sunday in our study is the First Sunday of Advent. We move now to the new church year and begin to anticipate the coming of Jesus Christ, God’s Messiah. This new start enables us to hear again the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We begin again to realize the great work of God in sending Christ to bring us peace, hope, joy, and love. We praise God!

Donald K. McKim

Our primary identity is as Christians—a noun. Our denominational traditions are adjectives. They are ways in which

our Christian faith is expressed, modi!ers of the noun Christian.

Joining the Feast


The Shape of the SeasonThe focus scriptures during this season give a variety of emphases for knowing and living the Christian faith. They include New Testament passages from the Gospel of Luke, 2 Timothy, and 2 Thessalonians and the Old Testament prophets, Jeremiah and Isaiah. Christian faith embraces wide areas of belief and practice. So the breadth of passages here provides insights for a variety of issues to enhance our understanding and the practices of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

These weeks open with Jesus’ word about the cost of discipleship—what it means to follow him (Luke 14:25–33).1 He begins with strong words: we must “hate father and mother, wife and children . . . yes, and even life itself.” If not, one “cannot be my disciple” (v. 26). Clearly the force of the words here is not toward a literal interpretation of hate but a relative comparison in which Jesus is saying that all these relationships must ultimately give way to allegiance to him. Thus, he follows by saying: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (v. 27). The cost here is an adherence to Jesus Christ that is to be singularly focused on him, even when it means conflict with those nearest and dearest to us, even when it means going against our own self-desires. Jesus’ stories—of the person desiring to build but not being able to finish after the foundation is laid, or the king who goes to war without considering the cost—are both warnings against beginning the life of discipleship

1. Passages in bold are those that are the focus scriptures in Feasting on the Word Curriculum.

without ultimately being committed to finishing what is begun or willing to pay the price being a disciple of Jesus Christ brings. We all walk our own ways as we “follow Jesus.” For some, the apparent sacrifices or costs

may seem more than they do for others. But no matter. What is key is the commitment to follow Jesus wherever that leads, whomever it means leaving behind, and even giving up “all your possessions” (v. 33). Our lives may not take outwardly radical directions. But we must be willing to follow Jesus, no matter what the cost to ourselves and our own desires. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer famously emphasized: when Christ call us, Christ calls us to come and die. The parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin (Luke 15:1–10) are part of a trio of Jesus’ parables in Luke 15, the third one being perhaps the most famous as the parable of the Prodigal Son. All three parables emphasize God’s seeking us out when we are lost or not in the right place. The parables all emphasize the rejoicing that occurs when the lost is found (vv. 6, 9, 23). The parable of the Lost Sheep portrays one of the shepherd’s one hundred sheep as lost. The shepherd goes after it till it is found. Joy abounds. Jesus says, “There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (v. 7). The sinner needs to be found by the shepherd. When the sheep is restored to the flock, there is joy in heaven. When I was in seminary, I was discussing this parable with a Korean student. He pointed out that in the Western world, with emphases on the individual person, there would be a tendency to interpret this parable to focus on the single sheep that is returned, or the sinner who repents. In his Eastern culture, he said, the emphasis would fall more on the joy coming from the fact that, since the lost sheep has been found, the

We must “hate father and mother, wife and children . . . yes, and

even life itself.” If not, one “cannot be my disciple” (v. 26).

Joining the Feast


community—the whole flock of one hundred sheep— can now be complete. So the church can rejoice when a person comes to faith or comes into the church, not only because of what this means to the person, but also because the church community can now be more complete and experience that fullness. A point to ponder! Perhaps we can read more parables from the point of view of the wider Christian community. The Parable of the Dishonest or Shrewd Manager or Steward (Luke 16:1–13) is notoriously difficult to interpret. The parable itself may go from verses 1–8 with further proverbs about wealth and riches added in verses 9–13. Biblical commentators have proposed different interpretations, the difficulty being that it seems Jesus is commending a shrewd steward or dishonest manager for trying to save his own skin when he is faced with losing his position because he has been squandering his employer’s, the rich man’s, property (v. 1). When faced with his dishonesty, the manager’s plan was to extract from his master’s debtors part of what they owed him, so he could present some money to his employer. This led to the master commending ”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” (v. 8). One way to look at this is to see the master’s commendation of the manager to be for his prudence, rather than his dishonesty. He was dishonest in squandering his master’s property. He had “sinned” against his master. But when faced with his doom in losing his job, he sought the best way to use the material possessions he could put together (the partial payments of those who owed his employer) and presented this to his master. This won the master’s commendation: that the manager had “acted shrewdly.” When faced with a crisis, this manager—flawed and sinful as he was—judged how to cope with it to be able to go into the future. Disciples of Jesus—sinful as we are—face difficulties, even as a result of our own sins. The question is, will we seek ways to respond to the difficulties? The most significant crisis and difficulty we face is our confrontation with Jesus’ preaching about the reign of God and how God wants us to live as Christ’s disciples. Will we be prudent in finding the ways to live that are

in accord with what our Master, Jesus Christ, wants? Or will we continue to live in our dishonest ways and face judgment? The additional cautions here about wealth and possessions (vv. 9–13) also provide warnings about our attitudes and actions with what God has graciously given us as wealth. We need to be faithful—and not dishonest—stewards. For being dishonest in small matters will lead to being “dishonest also in much” (v. 10). We must always sit loose with our wealth, not letting ourselves be drawn into loving it more than we love Christ. Jesus warned, no one can “serve two masters,” for either we will “hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (v. 13). Or, to put it in our terms: “You cannot serve God and cash!”

Considerations about wealth follow in the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19–31). In the parable, the poor man, Lazarus, who was “covered with sores [ulcers] and was hungry” had lain at the gate of a rich man who lived luxuriously. Lazarus desired even the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table (v. 21). Both men died. Lazarus was carried “to be with Abraham.” The rich man went to Hades (the abode of the dead, Hebrew Sheol), where he looked upon Lazarus with Abraham. But there was a great gulf between them, which no one could cross. The rich man was in agonizing torment. He called out for mercy, to send Lazarus “to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue” (v. 24). But it could not be. Abraham reminded the rich man he had received his good things throughout his life, while Lazarus had received evil things. This is a full role reversal: the rich man is in torment; the poor man is “in Abraham’s bosom” (Greek rendering; v. 23).

Jesus warned, no one can “serve two masters,” for either we will “hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth” (v. 13).

Or, to put it in our terms: “You cannot serve God and cash!”

Joining the Feast


Though nothing can be done to help the rich man, he worried about his five brothers and pleaded that Lazarus be sent to them to “warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment” (v. 28). Abraham replied that the brothers had “Moses and the prophets” (v. 29). The rich man pleaded that “if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent” (v. 30). But this was not to be. For Abraham said: “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead” (v. 31). Two features stand out here. The first is the reversal between the rich man and Lazarus in the afterlife. The wealth of the rich man was counterbalanced by his torment after death. The abject poverty of Lazarus was counterbalanced by the blessedness of his intimate standing with “Abraham.” In the present life, the rich man gave no thought to the plight of the poor. After death, it was too late and no amends could be made. The British New Testament scholar, T. W. Manson, saw this as part of the “Gospel of the Outcast.” This is teaching that God requires “generous and gracious help for all the victims of poverty, sickness, or any other ill, that may come upon persons.”2 For after all, this life is the only life we have to make a difference in the lives of others!

This leads to the second point, which is that God deals with us in this life through the resources God has given to present the Gospel to us. We cannot expect “the dead to rise” to teach and help us. The one who did rise from the dead—Jesus Christ—is the one whose word we have to hear and obey in this life; to bring us the Gospel. His is the Gospel of the forgiveness of sin and the “Gospel of the Outcast” to love and care for others. When we need to refocus on our Christian life and experience, we can do no better than study 2 Timothy 1:1–14. This passage provides a memory of what we are thankful for and encourages us to stand

2. T. W. Manson, The Sayings of Jesus, rpt. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1979), p. 301.

firm in the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is about sound teaching, faith, and love (vv. 13–14). Timothy is reminded of the faith that “lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you” (v. 5). This faith is a source of thanksgiving. It also brings the admonition to “rekindle the gift of God that is within you” (v. 6). This is a word always needed in our lives. All we have in faith is from God’s work, God’s gift. When we neglect the resources of faith or let the fire of faith falter, we need this gift of God rekindled within us. It is God who has “saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace” (v. 9). God is the one who has brought us to faith, called us to live out a “holy calling,” and does so to carry out the divine purpose in us, by God’s grace. All we are we owe to God. This is pure grace, which was “given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began” (v. 9), but “has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus,” who has brought us life (v. 10). Even when we suffer, we know the one in whom we have believed and put our trust. This is the ringing affirmation: “I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him” (v. 12). The “good treasure” of “faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (vv. 13, 14) is ours now as well and is maintained with “the help of the Holy Spirit living in us” (v. 14).

The Christian’s life with Christ is held before us in 2 Timothy 2:8-15. We are focused on Jesus Christ, “raised from the dead, a descendant of David—that is my gospel” (v. 8). This is the gospel of the writer of Timothy—and it is our gospel today, also. The core of Christian faith is the resurrection of Christ, the One who came as God promised, from the line of King David. The Christian life is not an easy life. We are subject to hardships but we endure for the sake of the “salvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory” (v. 10). We suffer for the sake of Christ and the salvation given in

All we have in faith is from God’s work, God’s gift. When we neglect the resources

of faith or let the !re of faith falter, we need this gift of God rekindled within us.

For after all, this life is the only life we have to make a difference

in the lives of others!

Joining the Feast


Christ—to the church and to us. The apostle Paul is our model for this. Paul suffered hardships but maintained a faithful witness to Christ. He was convinced that the power of the Gospel can break through all the deterrents the world puts in its way.

Our entrance into life in Christ is through baptism where we have “died with Christ” (Romans 6:8) and, in our passage: “if we have died with him, we will also live with him” (v. 11). The way to new life is through the death of our self in being “buried with Christ” (Romans 6:4) so we will “live with him.” Baptism expresses the death of our old self and the birth of our new life in Christ. Through all life throws at us, our union with Christ by faith (Romans 6:5) enables us to carry on. The sure promise is that “if we endure, we will also reign with him” (v. 12). God’s Spirit, received in baptism when we have “died with him” preserves us and holds us throughout life into eternal life and reigning with Christ. The flip side of the Christian life—or of those who start out but then turn away—is that “if we deny him, he will also deny us” (v. 12). Even “if we are faithless,”

Christ remains faithful—being fully faithful to himself. So “he cannot deny himself’ (v. 13). Christ is not two-faced and variable. He remains ever faithful and brings us to final salvation. This is our life with Christ. The parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1–8) is about persistence in prayer. A widow sought justice against her opponent (v. 3). A judge kept refusing her requests, but because of the woman’s persistence he relented and granted her justice, “so that she may not wear me out by continually coming” (v. 5). Jesus used the story to make a comparison with God, who is a just judge. If an unjust judge will answer the petitions of a widow, will not God “grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them?” (v. 7). No, said Jesus, “I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them” (v. 8). This is a parable of contrast: between an unjust judge and a just judge, God. It is set in the context of Jesus’ preaching of the coming reign of God and thus his question: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (v. 8). The church, now, prays—and continues to pray—trusting God to answer our prayers. As we anticipate the fullness of God’s reign, we pray and continue to “pray always and not to lose heart” (v. 1). Our need for prayer and gratitude is captured in Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9–14). This parable contrasts the two persons who pray in the temple. One person regarded himself as righteous, in thanking God that “I am not like other people” (v. 11) and recounting his virtues. The other, a tax collector, hated in Jewish society, stood far off,

Paul suffered hardships but maintained a faithful witness to Christ. He was

convinced that the power of the Gospel can break through all the deterrents the

world puts in its way.

Joining the Feast


beat his breast, and prayed: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (v. 13). The contrast could not be more stark. One person assumed his own goodness; the other knew only that God is good and he was a sinner. The one listed his good works: fasting and tithing (v. 12); the other asked purely for God’s mercy (v. 13). The tax collector was the one, said Jesus, who “went down to his home justified . . . for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted” (v. 14). The true attitude God desires is the realistic assessment of who we are as sinners in need of God’s mercy. Our surest route to being cut off from God is to assume our own self-sufficiency, to assume what we do are good works in themselves and entitle us automatically to gain the favor of God, all the while as we look down on others who do not have these accomplishments, in addition to “thieves, rogues, adulterers” (v. 11), name your category of people. Ages before, the psalmist said: “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). The tax collector exemplified this attitude. This humility is what God desires. Self-trust can never secure God’s blessings. The great reversal is that those who exalt themselves will be brought low; while those who are humble will be lifted up. Our need for God’s mercy is ongoing. Our need to seek God’s mercy is ongoing as well.

Jesus encountered a tax collector who must have embodied the attitude of the tax collector in the parable (Luke 19:1–10). The famous Zacchaeus, short in stature, climbed the sycamore tree to see Jesus. He was called down by Jesus, who visited his home. This elicited grumbling from “all who saw it” because

they considered Zacchaeus to be a “sinner” (v. 7). But something happened to Zacchaeus. The next thing we know, he is announcing that he would be giving half of his possessions to the poor and paying reparations to those whom he had defrauded to the tune of four times as much as he had stolen. Tax collectors were hated because they were considered traitors. They collected the money Rome required, plus more—for themselves! But Zacchaeus was going to amend his life. This was the sign that, as Jesus said, “today salvation has come to this house” (v. 9). Zacchaeus knew his life was going in the wrong direction, in terms of how he was treating others. His encounter with Jesus changed all that. Now he sought new relationships with those he had cheated. Now he sought a new way of living. Like the tax collector in Jesus’ earlier parable was humbling himself (18:14), Zacchaeus was recognizing his failures to live as God desired. This recognition led Jesus to proclaim: “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (19:10). Two weeks’ study of 2 Thessalonians shifts the focus to the apostle Paul’s concerns, one of which is found in the first part of our first passage (2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17). Here Paul is dealing with the misinterpretation that “the day of the Lord is already here” (v. 2). That refers to the view that Paul was teaching the Parousia, or second coming of Jesus, had already occurred. Paul appeals to an apocalyptic tradition about the end of the world that indicated that apostasy would be an evil characteristic of the end time, a rebellion epitomized by a mysterious figure called the “lawless one” who declares himself to be God (vv. 3–4). In today’s terms, this points us toward not a specific individual (“antichrist”) as much as toward those powers (and people) that set themselves up as “God” or in the place of God. These kinds of “principalities” and “powers” (see Romans 8:38; Colossians 1:16; Titus 3:1; KJV) are those that oppose God and work in all kinds of ways to perpetuate the reign of evil. Yet instead of being afraid or discouraged, Paul went on to tell the Thessalonians that they can “give thanks” because God chose them “for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (v. 13). Here the foundation of salvation is seen as secure: our salvation is by God’s work. John Calvin

Our surest route to being cut off from God is to assume our own self-suf!ciency, to assume what we do are good works in themselves and entitle us automatically to gain the favor of God, all the while as we look down on others who do not have these accomplishments.

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put it well: “the true haven of our security” is God; and “God, who has chosen us of old, will rescue us from all the distresses that threaten us. We are elected to salvation; we shall therefore be safe from destruction.”3 The Spirit is at work within us (sanctification), and we believe in the truth. God is at work within us so that we “may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 14). Believers in the church are to “hold fast to the traditions,” which give them solid ground on which to stand firm (v. 15). Paul’s benediction here is meant to ask the God “who loved us and through grace” to lift the hearts of the people and give “eternal comfort and good hope” so they are comforted and strengthened in “every good work and word” (vv. 16–17).

The good work Paul urged for the Thessalonians is picked up in our next passage (2 Thessalonians 3:6–13), where he warns against idleness. This passage includes the verse, “Anyone unwilling to work should not eat” (v. 10). Or, put more colloquially: “No loaf for the loafer!” Idleness leads people to be “busybodies” and “not doing any work” (v. 11). Those who do not participate in work become burdens on the community. Instead, all should work, Paul urges (v. 12). Work is a means of contributing to the community. So all should participate, even according to Paul’s own example (vv. 7–9). Yet through it all, Paul urges the Thessalonians not to be “weary in doing what is right” (v. 13). This is a challenge for a Christian community, then and now. The church year concludes on Christ the King/

3. John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul to the Romans and Thessalonians, ed. David W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance, trans. R. Mackenzie, Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries, rpt. (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1962), Comm. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 (CNTC 8:409).

Reign of Christ Sunday. On this Sunday, we hear the Old Testament promise given to the prophet Jeremiah where God promises a righteous king will come to the people, to rescue and save the people, restoring them to their land (Jeremiah 23:1–6). The promised king will be unlike any other. The power of God will gather the scattered people with God promising: “I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply” (v. 3). Their lives will now be secured. God will “raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD” (v. 4). This promise for the tranquility of the people of Israel is an ongoing, blessed promise for God’s people who are gathered together into the community of God’s saints. To be king, God will “raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (v. 5). This monarch of David’s line embodies who a king in Israel should be (cf. Jeremiah 21:12; 22:3; 33:14–16). What this king does is an expression of who the king is. God promises this “coming one” (Messiah) will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness” (v. 6). In himself, this coming king will carry out God’s justice and righteousness in the land so that “Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety” (v. 6). Only this righteous king can do this. Only God’s promised Deliverer—the Messiah! Is it any wonder that on Christ the King Sunday, the church looks back in praise and gratitude to Jeremiah’s prophecy? We see in the promised king—the deliverer of the people who is named “The LORD is our righteousness”—Jesus Christ, who is the “the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15; cf. Revelation 17:14; 19:16).

We see in the promised king—the deliverer of the people who is named “The L"#$ is our righteousness”—Jesus Christ, who is the “the blessed and only Sovereign,

the King of kings and Lord of lords” (1 Timothy 6:15; cf. Revelation 17:14; 19:16).

Joining the Feast


God’s ancient covenantal promise made to Israel and Judah is now fulfilled—in the unexpected way—of God sending God’s Son, Jesus Christ, to be the righteous king! On Christ the King Sunday, we celebrate the faithful God who keeps promises. We celebrate the righteous king who reigns over all the earth—and in the hearts of those who believe in him and who proclaim Jesus Christ to the world!

The celebration of Christ the King at the end of the church year now gives way to the first Sunday of the new church year and the season of Advent. Now the church’s life begins anew with the season that anticipates the coming of Jesus Christ, the Christ who was prophesied—now to come to us in what we celebrate at Christmas, in the person of the infant Jesus, born to Mary and Joseph. A key prophecy, promising a magnificent vision of what God will do in the future for the people of Israel, is Isaiah’s prophecy (Isaiah 2:1-5). Here, God’s word will come forth from Zion (Mt. Zion) and people will stream to it (2:2, 3). There God will teach the divine ways (the law of God) and people will “walk in his paths” (v. 3). The “word of the LORD” will come from Jerusalem. God’s word will express God’s will so people will know and understand, as well as obey what God desires and live as God wants them to live. God’s “instruction” or “law” (Heb. torah) expresses the divine will for those who will be obedient to the Lord.

In this coming time when God reigns and gathers people, God’s justice will be enacted as God judges and settles disputes (v. 4). Even more, with disputes left behind, the promise is that the people “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;” so that “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (v. 4). The promise of eternal peace—when nations live in harmony with one another and the righteousness and justice of God shall reign—is the promise that overshadows all else and provides the greatest joy and blessing!

The promise of eternal peace when nations live in harmony with one another

and the righteousness and justice of God shall reign—is the promise that

overshadows all else and provides the greatest joy and blessing!

The church has heard Isaiah’s prophecy of the future as being the future promise which we now have in God’s Messiah, the One who fulfills the words of promise given centuries ago. In Jesus Christ, God’s promises are fulfilled. In him, the coming promises of justice and peace are found. The first Sunday of Advent introduces the promise of God’s eternal peace, which will be fulfilled fully in the future reign of God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ. The personal promise of Advent peace is that in Jesus Christ, we in the church, receive the fullness of God’s promises by faith and can live in the peace “which surpasses all understanding,” which will “guard [y]our hearts and [y]our minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). The future peace of Christ can reign in our hearts, now . . . and forever! As we begin our Advent journey, we begin with God’s promise of peace. We look forward to the coming of “the prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6), Jesus Christ, who “is our peace” (Ephesians 2:14), forever.

Donald K. McKim

Joining the Feast


This section of Joining the Feast includes the stories on the focus scriptures from the multi-age course. These stories can be used in the children’s time during worship. During these final weeks of the church year and Ordinary Time, several focus passages of Scripture are taken from letters in the New Testament. Notice that some songs are used by several age levels but not in the same session. If you are interested in including a prayer, poetry, or artwork from an age level, speak with the leader in advance. May your congregational worship be enlivened by these suggestions to join worship and learning.

Carol A. Wehrheim

September 4, 2016 Luke 14:25–33 Proper 18

Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Signs for glory and God on Color Pack 27 multi-age

Pray for people who are persecuted. tweenClosing charge from 1 Timothy 4:12 (NRSV) tween

Music “Do Lord, O Do Lord” (K)1–2, 3–4 , multi-age

“Glory to God” multi-age“Just As I Am, Without One Plea” or “Here I Am, Lord” adult

Presentation of the Focus Scripture

Focus scripture read from CEV (K)1–2Focus scripture read from CEV with group response 3–4Story from multi-age is on the next page. multi-ageFocus scripture read from CEB youth

Sermon “Jesus’ love for us is deeper than the ocean, higher than the mountains, bigger than the earth, and brighter than the sun.”

(K)1–2

www.persecution.org for stories tween“A parable is a story of comparison that teaches a religious truth.”

multi-age

“Hating family” in this context refers to making family and other things secondary to following Christ.

youth

Story of Perpetua, Christian martyr of the third century (Resource Sheet 2)

adult

Visual Green cloth/paraments (K)1–2, 3–4, tween, multi-age

Un!nished tower of building blocks 3–4

Joining Worship and Learning

Joining the Feast



Follow Mebased on Luke 14:25–33

Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. But along the way he had dinner in the home of a leader of the Pharisees. He taught people about God’s love by telling them stories called parables. He visited his friends, Mary and Martha, in a town called Bethany. He told people not to worry because God was always with them.

As Jesus and the 12 disciples walked from village to village, crowds of people, large crowds, walked with them. Some could go only a short way, but others walked longer distances with Jesus.

On this day, Jesus turned to the large crowd following him. “If you want to follow me,” he said, “you must give up everything. You must follow my example.”

Perhaps Jesus wasn’t sure the people in that large crowd understood what he was saying, so he told them two stories, two parables.

“If you wanted to build a tower, wouldn’t you !rst think about what you would need and how much it would cost? If you didn’t, you might start to build the tower and then run out of materials or of money. Then your neighbors would laugh at you because you hadn’t planned and now you couldn’t !nish the tower.”

After a moment for the people to think about that story, Jesus said, “Or what king would go out to !ght without thinking whether his army was large enough to defeat the enemy’s army? If the king didn’t think he would win, wouldn’t he send one of his trusted people to take terms of peace to the enemy? And you,” Jesus said as he looked at the great crowd around him, “have you really thought about what it means to be my follower?”

Joining the Feast



Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Signs for glory, God, and highest on Color Pack 27 multi-age

Closing charge from 1 Timothy 4:12 (NRSV) tween

Music “Do Lord, O Do Lord” (K)1–2 , 3–4“Glory to God” multi-age“Behold, I Am with You” multi-age


Story with breaks for children to hunt for lost coin and lost sheep

(K)1–2

Story from multi-age is on the next page. multi-ageReaders’ theater based on CEB (Resource Sheet 2) youth

Sermon Use a Venn diagram to discover what is alike and unique to the two parables

3–4, multi-age

Information about Pharisees, legal experts, tax collectors, sinners

youth


Welcome banners adult

Joining the Feast


Two Parablesbased on Luke 15:1–10

Jesus continued on the road to Jerusalem. People walked with him and then had to go back to their homes. But the 12 disciples Jesus had chosen to follow him stayed. But not everyone was happy with Jesus. Some of the Jewish religious leaders, Pharisees and scribes, frowned when they saw Jesus talking to tax collectors and sinners. They grumbled, “This Jesus talks to sinners. He even eats with them. Unheard of!”

Ignoring their comments, Jesus told these parables:

What if you had 100 sheep and one day, one sheep was missing. When you counted them, there were only 99. What would you do? Wouldn’t you leave the 99 sheep who were gathered together and go off to !nd the one sheep that was missing and maybe in danger? When you found your missing sheep, what would you do? You would be so happy that you would invite your neighbors to celebrate with you.

Or what if you were a woman who had 10 coins, precious coins? Then, one day, you counted your coins and there were only nine coins. You counted them again, just to be sure. But you only had nine coins. Wouldn’t you clean the cupboard and sweep the "oor? Wouldn’t you light a lamp so you could search every corner? What would you do when you found the missing coin? You would be so happy that you would invite your neighbors to celebrate with you.

You know, God is like that shepherd and that woman. When one girl, one boy, one woman, or one man !nds their way to God, God celebrates too.

I wonder what the Pharisees and the scribes, those Jewish leaders who were upset with Jesus, thought about these two parables.


Joining the Feast



Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Signs for glory, God, and highest on Color Pack 27 multi-age

Prayer litany with response, “Lord, open our hearts to seek your will.”

adult

Music “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me (K)1–2, 3–4, tween, multi-age

“Glory to God” multi-age“We Give Thee but Thine Own” or “Take My Life, That I May See”

adult


Story script on Resource Sheet 1 (K)1–2Read from CEB or CEV 3–4Story from multi-age is on the next page. multi-ageRead from The Message adult

Sermon “You can’t serve God and be greedy at the same time. Serve God.”

(K)1–2

“Serving God means that loving people is always the bottom line.”

tween

Refers to the “streetwise” manager per The Message youthInformation about “Jubilee” year youth


Joining the Feast


The Greedy Household Managerbased on Luke 16:1–13

Jesus told this parable to his disciples, and some Pharisees who were nearby:

A rich man hired a man who to take care of his household. This hired man, a manager, bought the food needed to feed the family and the people who worked for them. He paid the bills when the food was delivered. He also collected money from people who owed it to the rich man. This manager had an important job.

Someone, I don’t know who, told the rich man that the household manager was wasting the rich man’s money. The rich man sent for the household manager to !nd out what was going on.

“ What’s this I have been told about you? I want a full report, an accounting, of the money you have spent and what you have bought. And I want it now because you are no longer my household manager!” said the rich man.

The household manager went away. He muttered to himself, “Okay, I am being !red, but what can I do now? I am not strong enough to work in the !elds. I am too proud to beg on the side of the road.” He thought some more and then he said out loud, “I know! I will do something that will make others think well of me and I will surely !nd another job in another house.”

This is what the man did. He went to each person who owed money to the rich man. He went to the !rst man and asked, “What do you owe the rich man I work for?”

“I owe him nine hundred gallons of olive oil,” said the man.

“ Take your contract and quickly change it to four hundred and !fty gallons,” said the manager.

The household manager went to the next person and asked, “What do you owe the rich man I work for?”

“One thousand bushels of wheat.”

“Take your contract and quickly change it to eight hundred bushels,” said the household manager.

When the rich man heard what the household manager had done, you might think he would be angry, but he wasn’t! He thought the manager had been clever to use this way to make friends with the people who could help him now that he didn’t have a job.

When the story was !nished, Jesus said, “Think carefully how you will use what you own, your money and your things. You cannot love God and be greedy.”


Joining the Feast



Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Signs for glory, God, and highest on Color Pack 27 multi-ageMusic “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” (K)1–2, tween,

multi-age“The Circle of Love” 3–4, multi-age“Glory to God” multi-age“God of Grace and God of Glory” or “Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service”

adult


Story script on Resource Sheet 1 (K)1–2Story from multi-age on next page. multi-ageMelodramatic script on Resource Sheet 1 youth

Sermon Asking “How can I help?” (K)1–2Look at traf!c warning signs. 3–4Learn the word “compassion”. 3–4


Joining the Feast


Let Me Warn Thembased on Luke 16:19–31

Jesus’ disciples were with him, but Jesus was looking right at the Pharisees, the Jewish men who spent so much time studying the laws of God, when he told this story:

In the city, a certain man dressed in fancy purple clothes. You could tell he was rich by the !ne clothes that he wore. This rich man ate delicious food every day. He had so much food on his table it was like a feast.

He also lived in a !ne house with a wall around it. This wall kept all the things the man didn’t like away from him. But at the gate in the wall around his house sat a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores. Truth be told, Lazarus was lying down, too hungry and weak to sit up. Oh, thought Lazarus, if I could just have the crumbs under the rich man’s table, I would not be hungry.

But that didn’t happen. As Lazarus sprawled on the ground next to the rich man’s gate, dogs came and licked his sores.

One day Lazarus died. God’s angels took Lazarus to be with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. Not long after that, the rich man died. No angels came for him. He went to the place of the dead, where he was miserable.

When the rich man looked up, he could see Lazarus smiling and talking with Abraham. He shouted to Abraham, “Father Abraham, be good to me! Send Lazarus with water to cool my tongue. It’s miserable here.”

Abraham said, “Oh, no! While you were alive, you had fancy clothes, a big house, and all the food you could eat. Lazarus had nothing like that and he was covered with sores, too. Now there is a deep ditch between you and Lazarus. Neither you nor Lazarus can cross it. You must stay there and Lazarus will stay here.”

“I beg you,” said the rich man, “send Lazarus to my father’s house and warn my !ve brothers so they don’t end up here when they die.”

“No,” said Abraham, “they can listen to Moses and all God’s prophets.”

“But if someone returns from being dead, they will listen. Then they will change their ways to follow God,” said the rich man.

“If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen to someone who was dead,” said Abraham.

And that was the end of the story Jesus told the Pharisees. I wonder how they liked that story.


Joining the Feast


October 2, 2016 2 Timothy 1:1–14 Proper 22

Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Prayers of the People: include those who help us know

Jesus(K)1–2

Music “The Circle of Love” (K)1–2“Do Lord, O Do Lord” 3–4“Glory to God” tween, multi-age“Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” multi-age


Read from CEV (K)1–2Story from multi-age is on the next page. Print focus scripture on a scroll to read during the story.

multi-age

Read from CEB and The Message youthSermon Family trees to identify “faith family” 3–4, multi-age

Only time the Greek word translated as “rekindle” (v. 6) is found in the Bible.

tween

Creeds as a way to rekindle or revive faith tween2 Timothy 1:9–10 read in CEB and The Message tweenInformation about Timothy (Resource Sheet 2) adult


Heritage of faith display 3–4, multi-age

Joining the Feast


Encouraging Wordswith a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 1:1–14

Hi, everyone. Timothy here. So many people want to talk with me. So many people aren’t sure what to believe. Some days I’m so tired that I wonder if I can do this. I try to pray for everyone, even the rulers in power. I remind the people to be generous. Still I get discouraged and wonder if I have been called by God to be a church leader. Well, that was how I was feeling when a messenger came to my door with a letter from Paul. This is how it begins:

From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, who God called to spread the word about the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus.

To Timothy, who is like a dear son to me.

Grace, mercy, and peace from God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I’m grateful to God. I follow God just as my family did before me. Every day and night I pray for you. I want so much to see you so I can be totally happy. I remember your true faith in God for you have followed your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. I have no doubt but that you

have the deep faith that they do. Because you have this faith, bring to life God’s gift that came to you when I laid my hands on you. The Spirit that God gives us is powerful and loving, not weak and timid.

And don’t be ashamed to speak about our Lord or about me, a prisoner. No, depend on God’s power to help you tell the good news of Christ Jesus.

God calls us and has a holy work for us. I was called to be a messenger, an apostle, and a teacher of this good news. Remember the good teachings you heard from me. This is the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Protect the good faith that has been given you by the Holy Spirit who is in you.

There’s more, but this is enough for today. Remembering Paul and reading his words about being called by God give me courage to be a church leader. This call from God is never easy, but the Holy Spirit in me will carry me through the hard times. You can count on that too.


Joining the Feast



Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Motion prayer: Jesus, hear my cry. (Place hands by mouth

and then raise both arms high.) Come and stand by my side. (Move one arm in a beckoning gesture.) Strengthen me with your love. (Flex muscles in arms; place hands over heart.) And help me trust in God above. (Stretch arms out to side and look up.) Amen. (Bow head and fold hands in prayer.)

(K)1–2, multi-age

Signs for glory, God, and highest on Color Pack 27 multi-ageMusic “Behold, I Am with You” (K)1–2

“Every Time I Feel the Spirit” 3–4, tween“I Love to Tell the Story” adult


Story script on Resource Sheets 1 and 2 (K)1–2Drama on Resource Sheets 1 and 2 3–4Choral reading of 2 Timothy 2:11–13 (CEB) on Resource Sheet 1

tween

Story from multi-age on next page multi-ageRead from CEV and The Message youth

Sermon Feeling strong during hard times (K)1–2One thing they want to remember about Jesus 3–4God’s word “cannot be imprisoned” (CEB) tweenDiscipleship stories based on 1001 Worshiping Communities at pcusa.org/resource/list/media

youth


Creation of a slide show poem about living in Christ youth

Joining the Feast


More from Paulincluding a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 2:8–15

Paul was writing a letter to Timothy. He had taught Timothy about Jesus and Timothy had traveled with him to start some churches. Now Timothy was in charge of a church. Paul thought of Timothy often and wished that he could visit him. Because he couldn’t visit Timothy, he wrote a letter to him. This is part of it:

Remember Jesus Christ? I told you about him, that he was raised from death and that he was of the family of King David. This is good news.

I’m in prison now because I preached about Jesus. But being in prison doesn’t keep me from writing and telling others about Jesus. God’s word cannot be put into a prison and hidden away. This is what is true:

If we die together, we also live together.

If we hang in there, we will all be in charge together.

If we say we don’t know Jesus, Jesus will not know us.

But if we turn against Jesus. Jesus will still be with us because that is who he is.

Perhaps Paul was thinking about Timothy and trying to !nd words to remind him that Jesus was his strength. Paul knew this was true for Paul had often needed that strength, just as he did now in prison.


Joining the Feast


October 16, 2013 Luke 18:1–8 Proper 24

Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Prayers for justice on Resource Sheet 2 3–4Music “Do Lord, O Do Lord” with simple dance (K)1–2, multi-age

“Glory to God” 3–4, tween, multi-age

“Behold, I Am with You ” tweenPresentation of the Focus Scripture

Read from CEV (K)1–2Story with parts and a chorus 3–4Story from multi-age is on the next page. multi-ageScript for presentation by two people (Resource Sheet 1) youth

Sermon Reference to longing of slaves for freedom 3–4Story of 14-year-old Gloria Bradley’s trip to DC for the 1963 March on Washington on Resource Sheet 3. For a video interview and more stories, go to: www.theyhadadreamtoo.org/biographies.html

multi-age

Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent protest youthPlan to pray for the congregation adult


Injustice collage youth

Joining the Feast


The Woman Who Wouldn’t Give Upbased on Luke 18:1–8

Jesus, still on the way to Jerusalem, was talking to his disciples. He knew there were dif!cult times ahead. Jesus wanted his friends to pray every day and not to get discouraged. He told this story:

A judge lived in a particular city. This judge didn’t respect God or any person. This judge was known by everyone to be mean and nasty. A widow lived in the same city. This widow had been treated unfairly and she wanted justice. As a widow, she had no one to stand up for her, but that didn’t stop this woman.

Day after day, the widow went to the judge. “Give me justice,” she demanded. Every time she showed up at the judge’s door with her demand, the judge answered, “Don’t bother me!”

“Give me justice!” “Don’t bother me!”“Give me justice!” “Don’t bother me!”“Give me justice!” “Don’t bother me!”Day after day, the neighbors heard, “Give me justice!” “Don’t bother me!”

This went on for many days. The neighbors were weary of the shouting. The judge was weary of the widow. But the widow showed up every day, except the Sabbath. Finally, the judge had had enough. “If I don’t do something about this widow,” he muttered to himself, “she will keep coming here and it is getting embarrassing. My neighbors are beginning to complain.”

So the next time the widow came and said, “Give me justice!” the judge did.

Jesus was quiet. Then he said to his disciples, “Look at what the mean and nasty judge did. Don’t you think that God, who loves you, will listen when you pray night and day? Surely God will give you justice more quickly than the mean judge did.”


Joining the Feast



Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Closing prayer of confession with this refrain: “God, be

merciful to me, a sinner!”tween

“Drum Prayer” (rhythmic tapping to pray without words) (K)1–2, multi-agePrayer litany multi-ageLitany focused on God’s mercy adult

Music ”Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” (K)1–2, multi-age“Do Lord, O Do Lord” 3–4“Glory to God” multi-age“There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy” adult


Story script with actions on Resource Sheet 1 (K)1–2Short skit introduces the tax collector and the Pharisee 3–4, multi-ageStory from multi-age is on the next page. multi-ageCreating rap to follow the focus scripture youth

Sermon Mercy means “compassion,” especially for someone who has offended or suffered in some way.

(K)1–2

A parable is a simple story that is told to teach a deeper meaning.

3–4

Information about Pharisees and tax collectors on Resource Sheet 2

tween, adult


Joining the Feast


Show Mercybased on Luke 18:9–14

Jesus had just told the parable of the widow and the mean judge to his disciples. As they were thinking about it, Jesus noticed that the Pharisees in the crowd had edged closer to hear what Jesus was saying.

Jesus turned to them and others in the crowd and told them this story:

Two people went to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee who made a show of entering the temple and praying in the middle where everyone could see him. The other was a tax collector. He had quietly crept in when no one was looking and went to a dark corner.

The Pharisee stood with his hands raised and prayed, “Thank you, God, that I am not like that tax collector over there. I fast not once, but twice a week. I give a tenth of everything I have to God.”

As the Pharisee continued to tell God how good he was, the tax collector stood in the corner with his head bowed. He couldn’t even lift his face to heaven. He pounded on his chest with his !sts, crying to God, “I am a sinner. God, show mercy to me.”

Jesus stood silently so the listeners could get these two men !rmly in their imaginations. Then Jesus said, “Believe me, the tax collector went back home knowing God’s mercy. But the Pharisee did not. Everyone who thinks they are so good will be brought low. Those who know what they have done wrong and say it will be lifted up.”

I wonder what the faces of the Pharisees were like when Jesus !nished speaking.


Joining the Feast



Connections Age-Level SourceWorshipMusic “ I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me” (K)1–2, 3–4

“Glory to God” tween, multi-age“Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man” with new stanzas written by the group

tween, multi-age, youth


Simple drama of the story based on CEV (K)1–2Readers’ theater of the story (NRSV) tweenStory from multi-age is on the next page. multi-ageScript based on CEB youth

Sermon Ways to spread God’s love to other people (K)1–2Examination of stereotypes youthIdenti!cation of those who are marginalized adult


Mini-welcome signs 3–4, multi-age

Joining the Feast


Welcomebased on Luke 19:1–10

Walking day after day, Jesus and the disciples were stopped by people from time to time. One day Jesus stopped on the way to Jerusalem to heal a man who was blind. Some days parents brought their children to be blessed by Jesus. People stopped him to ask questions about following God’s ways. Every time someone asked, Jesus stopped and healed or taught or blessed. Now Jesus and the disciples were in Jericho. They were close to Jerusalem now.

As they walked through Jericho, the word spread that the teacher Jesus was there. In this town lived a tax collector named Zacchaeus. He was very rich, and nobody liked him.

Zacchaeus was short, maybe not as short as a child, but Zacchaeus was shorter than other grown-ups. When he heard that Jesus was in town, he wanted to see this man he had heard about. But by the time he got to the main street through town, lots of people were already there. Zacchaeus couldn’t see a thing! But Zacchaeus had a plan.

Zacchaeus ran ahead of the crowd so he was ahead of Jesus. Then Zacchaeus did a surprising thing for an adult man; he climbed a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus over the heads of all the people. Then Zacchaeus waited.

Before long, Jesus was by the sycamore tree. He looked up and saw Zacchaeus. “Zacchaeus,” he said, “come down. I’m coming to your house today.”

The people nearby saw Zacchaeus in the tree and heard what Jesus said. They frowned and grumbled, “Jesus is going to the house of a sinner.”

Zacchaeus scrambled down from that sycamore tree. “Master,” he said to Jesus, “I will give half of everything I have to people who are poor. If I have been unfair to someone, I will repay that person four times as much.”

“Zacchaeus,” said Jesus, “today mercy has come to your house and you are a son of Abraham.”

Off they went to the house of Zacchaeus. I wonder what they talked about.


Joining the Feast


November 6, 2016 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17 Proper 27

Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Cinquains about God’s message of hope might be

incorporated into Assurance of Pardon.adult

Music “The Circle of Love” (K)1–2“Behold, I Am with You” (K)1–2, tween,

multi-age “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” 3–4“Glory to God” multi-age


Focus scripture is framed in story about Paul on Resource Sheet 1

(K)1–2

Interview skit to present information about the church in Thessalonica

3–4, multi-age

Story from multi-age is on the next page. Write focus scripture on a scroll to read during the story.

multi-age

Sermon Focus on Thessalonians 2:16–17 (CEV) (K)1–2Discussion of evil and Day of the Lord tweenFrom Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: Voldemort is like “the lawless one.”

tween

Learn a cheer to summarize the focus scripture: Stand !rm (clap twice); Hold on (clap twice); Celebrate the greatness of God (clap three times quickly).

multi-age

Information about Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy and the church at Thessalonica (Resource Sheet 1)

youth

Comparison of focus scripture in CEB, NRSV, and The Message

youth

Exploration of order of worship for opportunities for gratitude or for receiving encouragement

youth

Information on the Day of the Lord (Resource Sheet 2) adultVisual Green cloth/paraments (K)1–2, 3–4,

tween, multi-ageEncouragement college tweenPosters of words and images about the Day of the Lord adult

Joining the Feast


Be Encouragedbased on 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17

All his life, Paul was a faithful follower of God. He was a Pharisee, so he knew all about God’s ways and laws. When he was a young man, he was known as Saul. Then he did not believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But Saul had an amazing experience on the road to Damascus. Jesus came to him in a vision. From then on, Saul traveled from country to country to tell people the good news about Jesus. In time, he became known as Paul. With his friends Timothy, Silas, and others, he began churches in many cities.

Travel was dif!cult and returning to a city where a church was begun wasn’t always possible. So Paul wrote letters, lots of letters. Some of those letters are in our Bible, in the New Testament. There are two letters to the church in Thessalonica. The people are called Thessalonians, so the letter is to the Thessalonians. In the second letter to the Thessalonians, Paul encouraged the believers in Jesus there. Here is part of that letter:

My dear friends, God loves you. We always thank God for you. God chose you from the beginning to be among the !rst believers after the resurrection. You are God’s because you have the spirit of God and you believe in the truth. God called all of you through the good news of Jesus that we brought to you. Through this you have received glory.

So my dear friends, stand !rm and hold on to what we taught you when we visited you and when we wrote to you. Through Christ Jesus God has given us comfort and hope. May God encourage you and give you strength in every good thing you say and do.

November 6, 2016 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17 Proper 27

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November 13, 2016 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13 Proper 28

Connections Age-Level SourceWorshipMusic “The Circle of Love” (K)1–2

“I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me ” 3–4, tween, multi-age

“Glory to God” multi-age“Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” 3–4“The Church’s One Foundation” adult


Story from multi-age is on the next page. Write focus scripture on a scroll to read during the story.

multi-age

Sermon Focus on 2 Thessalonians 3:13 (CEV) (K)1–2Story about Nicolina Stine, who raises money for mosquito nets (www.kidsareheros.org) on Resource Sheet 1

(K)1–2

Highlight 2 Thessalonians 3:13 tweenLearn 2 Thessalonians 3:13 (CEB): “Don’t get discouraged in doing what is right.”

multi-age

“The Ant and the Grasshopper” (Resource Sheet 1) youthInformation about the church at Thessalonica (Resource Sheet 2)

adult


Joining the Feast


Do Your Partincluding a paraphrase of 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13

The church in Thessalonica was having many problems. As you remember from the other part of the letter from Paul, some members were giving up and the church needed to be reminded that God loved them and that they could be good followers of Jesus.

However, that wasn’t the only problem. Not everyone was doing her or his part. Some people weren’t working and expected to get food anyway. As you can imagine, this angered the people who worked hard. When Paul and his friends heard about this, you can believe that they were upset. Even though they were guests when they were in Thessalonica, they still did their part of the work. When Paul wrote to the church about the problem of people not working, this is what he wrote:

My good friends, in the name of Christ Jesus, please don’t hang around with any of your people who are lazy and loaf and refuse to obey the teachings we gave you. Of course, you know that you should follow our example. When we were with you, we didn’t waste our time sitting around doing nothing. We paid for all the food

you gave us. We knew that you worked hard and we didn’t want to make your lives more dif!cult. We worked hard day and night, just as you did.

As your guests, we had the right not to work, but we wanted to be an example for you. The rule we gave you is this: If you don’t work, you don’t eat. But now we hear that some people in your church just sit around and won’t work, except the work of being a busybody and gossiping about everyone. For the sake of the name of Christ Jesus, we beg those people to stop what they are doing and take part in the work of your group. Good, good friends, never get tired of doing what is right and good.

If there are followers who refuse to do what we have written, don’t have anything to do with them. Don’t treat them as enemies, but continue to speak kindly to them just as you would to any other follower.

May Jesus bless you with peace and be with each of you.

November 13, 2016 2 Thessalonians 3:6–13 Proper 28

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November 20, 2016 Jeremiah 23:1–6 Reign of Christ Sunday

Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Gathering Litany based on Psalm 72:12–15a (CEB)

Leader: He delivers the needy who cry out, the poor, and those who have no helper.All: Let the king live long!Leader: He has compassion on the weak and the needy; he saves the lives of those who are in need.All: Let the king live long!Leader: He redeems their lives from oppression and violence; their blood is precious in his eyes.All: Let the king live long!

tween

Music “The Circle of Love” (K)1–2“Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow” 3–4“Sanna, Sannanina” tween“Glory to God” multi-age“I’m Gonna Live so God Can Use Me” multi-age“Crown Him with Many Crowns” adult


Story script on Resource Sheet 1 (K)1–2Drama script on Resource Sheet 1 3–4Story from multi-age is on next page multi-ageReaders’ theater script based on The Message on Resource Sheet 2

youth

Sermon Prophets bring messages from God. (K)1–2Refer to Psalm 23 and John 10:11–15 regarding good shepherd

3–4

Contrast actions of good and bad shepherds multi-ageQuote from Margaret Mead: “ Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

youth

Visual White cloth/paraments (K)1–2, 3–4, tween, multi-age

Peace banner (K)1–2, multi-ageDisplay of poems and prayers about Christ’s reign of justice and peace

adult

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Jeremiah’s Bad News and Good Newsbased on Jeremiah 23:1–6

When Jeremiah was a young man, God said to him, “You are to be my prophet to all countries.”

“Not me,” said Jeremiah, “I’m young. I don’t know how to speak before crowds of people.”

But God didn’t take that for an excuse. “I will be with you, Jeremiah,” God said. “I will put my words in your mouth.”

Jeremiah was God’s prophet for many years. God did give him words to say, but sometimes they were words that the people, especially the rulers, didn’t like.

Some bad rulers had been in charge of Judah and Israel, the two nations of God’s people. They paid little attention to the people and cared only for themselves. The people were afraid God had forgotten them. Here is the message from God that Jeremiah had for the rulers and for the people:

Watch out, you rulers and kings who act like bad shepherds! You hurt my people so they have been scattered all over. You say you are caring for my people, but you are not! You have not taken care of them at all! I will take care of you! I will gather the few people who are left and bring them back to my country like a shepherd gathers the "ock. They will increase in number. I will give them leaders and kings who treat them like good shepherds treat their "ocks. My people will not be afraid any more, declares God!

A time will come, says God, when I will give my people a fair and just ruler from the family of King David. When this ruler is in charge, the countries of Judah and Israel will live in safety. This ruler will be called the King of Fairness and Justice!

How do you think the rulers looked when they heard these words from God through Jeremiah?

November 20, 2016 Jeremiah 23:1–6 Reign of Christ Sunday

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November 27, 2016 Isaiah 2:1–5 Reign of Christ Sunday

Connections Age-Level SourceWorship Advent Prayer:

Leader: Advent is for looking back to Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.All: Come, Lord Jesus!Leader: Advent is for looking ahead to Jesus’ return to rule in glory.All: Come, Lord Jesus!Leader: Advent is for looking within our hearts for Jesus’ presence now.All: Come, Lord Jesus!Leader: Come, Lord Jesus! Teach us your word of peace.All: Amen.

tween, multi-age

Music “Four Candles” (K)1–2, 3–4, tween, multi-age

“Come, O Come Emmanuel” adultPresentation of the Focus Scripture

Story script with response on Resource Sheet 1 (K)1–2Choral reading on Resource Sheet 1 3–4Story from multi-age is on next page multi-age

Sermon Focus on peace (K)1–2, 3–4Special attention to Isaiah 2:5 3–4Introduction to Isaiah on Resource Sheet 1 youthPeace sculptures at United Nations building youth

Visual Advent candles (K)1–2, 3–4, tween, multi-age, youth, adult

Purple or blue cloth (K)1–2, 3–4, tween, multi-age, adult

Photographs of walking into God’s light tween

Joining the Feast


God's Lightbased on Isaiah 2:1–5

God’s people in Judah were worried. The Assyrian army was capturing small nations near them. Would they be next? Would God protect them? Would there be war or peace?

Isaiah, the son of Amoz, was God’s prophet in Judah and Jerusalem. God had a message for the people there. This is what Isaiah told the people:

It will happen that Mount Zion, where God’s house is, will become the highest of all mountains. All the people will go to it. Many countries and peoples will head that way and say, “Come on, let’s go up the mountain to the house of God, Jacob’s God.

God will teach us the way to walk in God’s paths.”Teaching will come from Mount Zion; God’s word will be heard in Jerusalem.God will be the judge when nations disagree. God will settle their arguments. They will make their swords and armor into plows and farming tools. No nation will !ght another nation. No one will ever learn how to make war again. Come, let us walk in God’s light.

Isaiah couldn’t tell the people when this would happen, but Isaiah told them it was God’s promise to them.

November 27, 2016 Isaiah 2:1–5 Advent 1

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Help the participants in Feasting on the Word Curriculum resources connect with existing service opportunities in your congregation. Review this list and offer suggestions to the leaders. Give this chart to the chair of the mission or outreach committee so the work of the committee can be strengthened through the church school.

Carol A. Wehrheim

Date Focus Scripture Joining Mission and Learning Age-Level Source

September 4, 2016 Luke 14:25–33 Practice discipleship through helping others.

(K)1–2

Pray for people who are persecuted for their faith.

tween

Commit to increased involvement in congregational ministries, after reviewing a list of volunteer opportunities.

adult

September 11, 2016 Luke 15:1–10 Send invitations to peers to come to Sunday school.

3–4

Learn about ministries that care for people who feel lost or forgotten.

multi-age

Develop strategies to include others. youthWelcome those who are different. adult

September 18, 2016 Luke 16:1–13 Serve by giving. (K)1–2Use seed money to earn more to give away

3–4

September 25, 2016 Luke 16:19–31 Make bags of laundry detergent for shelters.

(K)1–2, multi-age

Support ongoing ministry to alleviate poverty.

tween, multi-age, youth

Plan for being advocates for people in need.

adult

October 2, 2016 2 Timothy 1:1–14 Select a mission project. youthOctober 9, 2016 2 Timothy 2:8–15 Write encouraging letters to

missionaries.adult

October 16, 2016 Luke 18:1–8 Plan a serving project to groups who work for justice.

3–4

Find role models in those who keep on working for justice.

multi-age

October 23, 2016 Luke 18:9–14 Tell others about God’s mercy. adultOctober 30, 2016 Luke 19:1–10 Participate in a food drive. (K)1–2

Learn how to welcome people to church.

3–4, multi-age

Help people who are poor or marginalized.

adult

Joining Mission and Learning

Joining the Feast


November 6, 2016 2 Thessalonians 2:1–5, 13–17

Write letters of encouragement to the congregation.

3–4

Write letters to mission workers. multi-ageNovember 13, 2016 2 Thessalonians

3:6–13Participate in a service project for the congregation.

(K)1–2

Learn about mission opportunities in the congregation.

tween

Begin a project to serve others. 3–4, multi-ageLearn about church’s mission projects. multi-ageExamine volunteer opportunities in the congregation.

adult

November 20, 2016 Jeremiah 23:1–6 Send messages to encourage living in peace.

(K)1–2

Plan a youth leadership service project. youthLearn about roles of advocacy. adult

November 27, 2016 Isaiah 2:1–5 Make healthy snacks for someone else. (K)1–2Plan an Advent service project. youth

Joining the Feast


Litanies and Prayers*

Psalm 122:1–2 and Isaiah 2:3, 5Opening Words/Call to Worship

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, that we may learn God’s ways and walk in God’s paths.Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!

2 Timothy 2:1–14Call to Confession

Since Jesus Christ was a descendant of David, Christ shared our humanity.He understands our struggles to be faithful.Yet even when we are faithless,Christ remains faithful. Jesus came not to condemn or exclude,but to make us well,to make us whole. In his name we confess our sins and call out,“Lord, have mercy on us!”

Luke 16:1–13Prayer of Confession

Creator of the universe,casualty of our sin,breath of life, we come trembling before you for we have hoarded and barteredwhat has never been oursin the hope of securing our future.We have yearned for wealth more than we haveyearned for you.We have squandered your trustand grieved your heart with our betrayal.Help us, O God of our salvation,

for the glory of your name;deliver us, and forgive our sins,

for your name’s sake. Amen.[silent confession]

Prayer of Confession

Gracious God, you know our sin: We have squandered the gifts you have given us.We have failed to forgive our debtorsas you have forgiven us.We have been unfaithful and dishonestin small things and great things alike.We are shrewd in seeking wealthand foolish in following your way.Forgive our sins, O Lord,for your name’s sake.Make us faithful stewardsof the grace you have givenand generous in forgiving others;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Luke 16:19–31Call to Confession

Trusting in the mercy of God, that grace might bridge,and we might cross,the great chasm between us.

Prayer of Confession

Dressed in fine linen, we feast sumptuously every day,

while others longto satisfy their hunger.We have Moses and the prophets,yet we remainunconvinced,waiting for some human warning.Forgive us.In your mercy,convince and comfort us,and lead us to righteousnessthrough Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.

Joining the Feast


Luke 16Declaration of Forgiveness

Through Christ we are carried away by the angels,comforted by Father Abraham,our hunger—satisfied,our agony—cooled,and our sins—forgiven.Believe the good news:in Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

1 Timothy 6:9–19, 19–20 Prayer of Confession

We have sinned, O God, hoarding what we have,grasping for more,and ignoring those who hunger and thirst.We stay with our own kind;we are complacent

in the face of systems that oppress.Forgive us;purify us;remake us,that we might love as you love. Amen.

2 Timothy 2:8–15Declaration of Forgiveness

In the waters of baptism, we have died with Christ and we have been raised with him to new life.Nothing in life or in death can separate usfrom the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.In Christ we are forgiven and set freeto live in praise and thanksgiving!Thanks be to God!

Luke 16:1–13Prayer of the Day

Faithful God, we give you thanks that in Jesus Christ you have entrusted uswith the richness of your gloryand the treasure of your grace.Make us faithful stewards of your good gifts,that we may show your love to this generationand welcome us into your eternal home,where we will worship and serve you forever;through Christ our Savior. Amen.

Luke 19:1–10Prayer of the Day

Gracious God,in Jesus Christ you come to seek and save the lost.You cover us with mercyand uphold us in times of trouble. Even when evil is all around,you show us a vision of justiceand empower us with your own Spirit, so that we do not lose hope.All thanks and praise to you, O God, for you come to save us and set us free. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Luke 14:25–33Prayer of Thanksgiving/Dedication

God of all creation,your claim on us is total; your desire for us, complete.We cannot follow Christ from a comfortable distance.Yet we ask that you would receive us this day and usewhat we bring.Keep sending your Spirit into our hearts, until we yieldall that we loveand all that we fear to your holy purpose.For we long to cede our lives to you;we long to know the fullness of your joy. We dare topray in the name of Jesus, who gave his life out oflove for the world. Amen.

Joining the Feast


Luke 15:1–10Prayer of Thanksgiving/Dedication

We rejoice and give you thanks, O God, for the lost have been found, sinners have received mercy,and the dead have been restored to life.Send us out in your service to tend your sheepand show the riches of your grace, through Jesus

Christ our Lord. Amen.

2 Timothy 1:1–14Prayer for Illumination

Holy God, through Christ Jesusyou bring the light of the gospel into our lives as grace revealed. Help us to guard this treasure and to share it with others, too,so that the faith that has lived in our ancestors and now lives in usmay come to life in every new generation. We pray with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Amen.

2 Timothy 2:8–15Prayer for Illumination

Sovereign God, though we are bound by many tethers,your Word is not chained.Set us free by this Wordlet loose in the world.By the power of your Holy Spirit,make us worthy of your approval:workers of the gospel,unashamed and unafraid to sharethe truth made known to us.In Christ Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Isaiah 2:1–5Prayer for Illumination

O God of our people and Lord of every nation,let your Word ring out from the mountainsand your Spirit shine forth in the earth,so that all may hear your teachingand all may do your will;O God of our peopleand Lord of every nation,let your Word ring out from the mountainsand your Spirit shine forth in the earth,so that all may hear your teachingand all may do your will;through Jesus Christ our peace. Amen.

Isaiah 2:1–5Invitation to the Offering

Jesus teaches us that no one can serve two masters. We cannot serve both God and wealth.Let us entrust our treasure to the Lordwho has provided so abundantly for uswith generosity and grace beyond measure.

Invitation to the Offering

Come with gratitude and joy to the table of the Lord.Bring the works of your handsand the gifts of your livesas an offering of praise.

Joining the Feast


Luke 18:1–8Prayer of Intercession[Silence may be kept after each intercession.]God of justice,in Jesus Christ you teach us to pray always and not to lose heart.And so we come.

For your children who suffer under oppressive rulers and greedy tycoons . . .

For your church that is torn asunder by mistrust and pride . . .

For those who have no water and those whose water is too dirty to drink . . .

For those who go to bed hungry and wake each day in misery . . .

For those who struggle to believe and those who seek a blessing . . .

For those who are bound by anxiety or depression, loneliness or fear . . .

For the sick and all who care for them and those who will die this night . . .

All these prayers we offer with thanksgiving, through the power of your own Spirit,for we know that you hear us when we pray and desire to makes us whole.In the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord.

Amen.

Luke 18:1–8Sisters and brothers in Christ, for the sake of the world that God so loves, let us pray through Jesus Christ our peace. Amen.Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. We pray for peace in every nation— that people will turn their swords into plowsharesand their spears into pruning hooksand study war no more.

Pray for the peace of the church.We pray for peace in Christ’s body. Put an end to fear and fighting,and help us to proclaim in word and actionthe good news of salvation to all.

Pray for the peace of this community.We pray for peace in this place— for safety in our homes and streets,for the prosperity of our neighbors,and for the health of family and friends.

God of the future, make us ready for the coming of your reign,when you will bring everlasting peaceand renew the face of the earth;through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Prayers of IntercessionLoving God, you have assured us that the days are surely comingwhen your people will know peace,your people will know justice,your people will know righteousness.Confident in your promises, we proclaim with faith:The Lord is our righteousness.You have assured us that a leaderwill come to rule with wisdom.We pray this day for those in particular needof justice, righteousness, and mercy.We pray for the trampled, the ignored, the brushed aside.We pray for the home-less, the love-less, and the health-less.

Joining the Feast


ContributorsDonald K. McKim is editor of The Present Word, editor of Being Reformed: Faith Seeking Understanding, and editor of Joining the Feast in Feasting on the Word Curriculum.

Carol A. Wehrheim is general editor for Feasting on the Word Curriculum.

We pray for leaders in governments, homes,communities, and schools,that they may know the influence of wisdom rather than power;and declare with faith:The Lord is our righteousness.You have assured us of the salvation and safety of your people.We pray this day for those who only know violence:those whose countries have been torn apart by invasion, civil war, and private armies,those whose communities have been forgottenby all but the warlords and gangs,those whose homes are places of danger and fearrather than sanctuary and love.May they declare with certitude:The Lord is our righteousness.

God of all creation we pray this day for the reign of Jesus the Christ.We pray that in the midst of chaos we might hear Jesus’ word to us;that in the midst of heartache we might know Jesus’ presence,and in the midst of a cacophony of voices we might proclaim:The Lord is our righteousness. Amen.

BlessingMay the grace of Christ, the love of God,and the Spirit’s joy surround youas you walk in the light of the Lord.

* All materials are drawn from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Volume 2, ed. Kimberly Bracken Long (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013).

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