Preparation for next week – Sent to Serve
The theme for the Seventh Sunday after
Pentecost (Proper 10) is sent to serve. Christians are people who are sent by
God to serve Him and His people. Jesus sent His disciples to preach and heal.
John the Baptist is beaded for his refusal to stand down to wicked King Herod.
Faithfulness to God was far more important than obeying the dictates of a mad
king. As John dies innocently, so must the Christ. Amos claimed that the Lord
chose him as a shepherd to go to Israel to preach in the Old
Testament lesson. In the Epistle lesson, we gain the impression that we are
destined to be God’s people through Christ and appointed to glorify Him. We are
a people with a mission and on a mission given to us by God. Occasionally we
might be opposed. This need not be our chief concern. One thing is needed and
that is faithfulness.
Collect for Pentecost 7—Grant,
Lord, that the course of this world may be so governed by Your direction that
Your Church may rejoice in serving You in godly peace and quietness;
Prayer in time of affliction
and distress: Almighty and most merciful God,
in this earthly life we endure sufferings and death before we enter into
eternal glory. Grant us grace at all times to subject ourselves to Your holy
will and to continue steadfast in the true faith to the end of our lives that
we may know the peace and joy of the blessed hope of the resurrection of the
dead and of the glory of the world to come; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen
Absolution is neither a
response to a suitably worthy confession, nor the acceptance of a reasonable
apology. To absolve means not only to loosen, to free, to acquit; it also means
to dispose of, to complete, and to finish. When God pardons, He does not say He
understands your weakness or makes allowances for your errors. Rather, He
disposes of; He finishes with, the whole of your dead life and raises you up
with a new one. He does not so much deal with your failures as does He drop
them down the back hole of Jesus’ death. He forgets your sins in the darkness
of the tomb. He remembers your iniquities no more in the forgetfulness of
Jesus’ death. He finds you in the desert of death, not the garden of
improvement. And in the power of Jesus resurrection, He puts you on His
shoulders, rejoicing, and brings you home. –
Robert Farrar Capon, Parables of Grace, pg. 39
Collect for Proper 10 – Lord,
You granted Your prophets strength to resist the temptations of the devil and
courage to proclaim repentance. Give us pure hearts and minds to follow Your
Son faithfully even into suffering and death; through the same Jesus Christ,
our Lord, who lives, and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and
forever.
Monday, 06 July 2015—Psalm
143:1-2, 8a; Antiphon, Psalm 143:1— O Lord hear my prayer listen to
my cry for mercy in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.
In each of our readings for this coming week the righteous find themselves
confronted by evil forces. There are those who would want the Christian to
cease and desist. Thus, we must pray to the Lord for deliverance from all our
enemies. Psalm 143 is such a prayer. As we make our appeals known to God, not
only will He hear us but also He will act, in His own time to rescue and defend
us.
Tuesday, 07 July 2015—Psalm
85(1-7) 8-13; key verse v.7— Show us Your unfailing love, O Lord,
and grant us Your salvation. This is how God chooses to act on behalf of
His people. He has every right to punish, condemn and destroy. In love, He will
offer forgiveness, life, and salvation. How could He? The cross of Calvary
shows us how deep and profound the Father’s love is for His people.
Wednesday, 08 July 2015—Amos
7:7-15—Amaziah orders Amos to stop preaching and go home to Judah. Amos, a
herdsman from Tekoa, is sent by the lord to Israel to preach. It is
at the time of King Jeroboam that Amos preached at Bethel, the site of the
royal sanctuary. Amaziah is the high priests who warms the king of Amos’
treason and who commands Amos to go back to Judah to preach
there. Amos replies that he is not a professional prophet, just a layman,
who was called by God to preach to Israel. He is not preaching for a
living, but in obedience to God’s call.
Amos was preaching in the holy place of Bethel,
the royal seat and place of worship. Amaziah tells Amos to go home to the South
to preach, for the temple is the “king’s sanctuary.” Since Amos’ message
was against the king and nation, Amos had no right to speak there; it was the
king’s chapel and not God’s house. If it is the king’s then speak in support of
the king’s policies and practices. If it is God’s house, God speaks in His
house through His called spokesperson. It was a matter of civil religion v.
true religion.
It was a religious service head in a
“White House” where you would expect sermons supporting the nation. The high
priest of Israel accuses Amos of treason. His preaching does not support the
nation. The king is to be killed and the people are to go into captivity. This
spells the end of the nation. This is a hard message. Amaziah reports this to
the king. The truth often hurts. It does not always approve what we do.
Thursday, 09 July 2015—Ephesians
1:3-14— God’s chose and destined us to be His children through Christ. For
the next few weeks, the Epistle lesson will come from St. Paul’s letter to
the Ephesians. This lesson is difficult to relate to the other two lessons. The
central theme of the letter to the Ephesians is the church. This lesson is on
praise to God who in Christ has poured out His love for us, who calls us to be
His children, redeemed us through the blood of Christ, and revealed His will to
us. He has given us His Spirit who is a guarantee of our salvation and eternal
life.
Friday, 10 July 2015—Mark
6:14-29 —Mad king Herod had John the Baptist killed to honor an oath,
to save face in front of his dinner guests, to quiet a man who firmly told him
that his illicit affair with his sister-in-law was sinful and shameful and to
honor Herodias’ request. Verse 20 is the key verse. Although Herod knew
he was doing wrong, his conscious bothered him, and John’s words condemned him
Herod was still drawn to listen to John. When we are overcome by the fear of
confronting someone, we can be comforted in the fact that the Law does convict.
God through the preaching of the Law prepares us to hear, understand and savor
the Gospel. John the forerunner of Christ will preach, baptize and die all like
Christ. First he must die. With the death of John now, the cross becomes the
focus of Christ’s destiny.
Saturday, 11 July 2015— Luke
10:2 - Sunday’s hymn of the day, Spread the Reign of God the
Lord (LSB 830). Who will work for the Lord and His cause?
There is plenty of work to be done. May we pray the Lord would use each of us
to be doing His will in our daily vocations. The opportunity to serve Him is
rewarding enough. As we can find work to be done may we do it joyfully and
willingly.
Sources:
Prayers from Lutheran Service Book ©
2006 and Lutheran Worship © 1980 Concordia Publishing House
and from Lutheran Worship © 1980 Concordia Publishing House.
Schnorr von Carolsfeld woodcut used with permission
from WELS
Lectionary Preaching Workbook Series B – John Brokhoff
© 1981 CSS Publishing, Lima, OH
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