August 26, 29 - Proper 17 reflection
Prayer Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things. Graft in our hearts the love of your Name. Increase in us true religion. Nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Hymn: #72 Rock of Ages
Confession/Absolution:
LORD - we pray to you also for the forgiveness of our sins. Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father.
In Your compassion forgive us our sins. Known and unknown. Things done. And left undone. And so uphold us by Your Spirit.
That we may live and serve you in newness of life. To the honor and glory of Your Name. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God have mercy on you. Forgive you all your sins.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ. And may He strengthen you in all goodness.
And by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen.
James 1:17-27
Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror;
for they look at themselves and, ongoing away, immediately forget what they were like. But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.
If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
Hymn: #71 Praise to the LORD, the Almighty
Imagine this: You scrape your knee. You hobble over to your friend who is watching. You start to cry as you say, "I scraped my knee."
Here comes the What If? part.
What if your friend looked at your bleeding knee and said. "Oh my, I am sure God will heal your knee. Let's say a prayer."?
How would you feel? Not too good.
How about this?
The sun is shining. It's a beautiful day. You have a great time enjoying the warmth and sunshine. But when it comes time to go inside, it starts pouring rain. You don't have a raincoat or an umbrella.
Someone is standing next to you at the door looking at the rain coming down. What if all they said to you was "Have a great day. Hope you get in all right."?
How would you feel? Again. Not too good.
Or how about this. It's almost lunch time. You sit at your regular place in the dinning rood but nobody comes! You don't have anything to eat. You tell your friend. “They forgot all about me!”
What if your friend walked with you to the dining room, sat down. and said, " Well, there’s nothing for you today."
How would you feel? You’d feel terrible!
Let's revisit these What If stories. In each story, you could have used a little bit of help, don't you think?
When you scrape your knee, what could your friend have done or said to help you?
When it started to rain, what could have that person done that might have shown that they cared about you?
When you didn't have a lunch. What could your friend have done?
Our Bible story today tells us that it is not enough to just wish good things for other people.
Have you heard people say "They'll know we are Christians by our love"? We show our love and we do that by service to our neighbor.
We might call it ministry or service. It is important to get together as a Christian family as we sing and pray and read the Bible.
It makes us stronger in our faith. It gives us confidence. It helps us to know who we are and who God is. But it shouldn't stop there. We show our love for God by the way we love others; especially those who care and help us.
Everything we believe means nothing if we don't put what we believe to work. So this week, I ask each of you to find a way to do something special for somebody who needs help.
I'll let you figure out what that might be. The way you love and serve others is by what you do best for those you love most. We see that love demonstrated around us by the people who serve and care for us.
Now I have one more What If? question for you. What if no one had ever told you that God loves you?[1]
But the good news for us today is that God in fact loves you!
That fact is the Bible is full of promises that God does in fact love you.
Jesus speaking to Nicodemus said “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
John would remind us again: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.”
And he says this “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” I John 4: 9,10
And John continues, “We love, because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
And he continues with these words and promises:
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11
“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” 1 John 3:1
Paul writes in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”[2]
And finally from the love chapter of the Bible 1 Corinthians 13:
If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but don’t have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but don’t have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient and is kind. Love doesn’t envy. Love doesn’t brag, is not proud, 5 doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil; 6 doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. 8 Love never fails.
13 But now faith, hope, and love remain—these three. The greatest of these is love.[3]
Lord, thank you for your love and care. Thank You for the love you have shown us from our Savior Jesus. May we love as He has loved us.
Words –1,524
Passive Sentences –4.3%
Readability –86.3%
Reading Level -4.0
[1] https://sermons4kids.com/sermons/playing-the-what-if-game
[2] Source: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/God~s-Love-For-Us
[3] The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible. That means that you may freely copy it in any form, including electronic and print formats. The World English Bible is based on the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament. It is in draft form, and currently being edited for accuracy and readability.
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