Worship for Pentecost 17 - 2010

Thursday after Pentecost 16
September 16, 2010

The Lord be with you

This coming Sunday is the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost. We will be using the service of Matins (page 219) for our liturgy. The appointed lessons are Amos 8:4-7, 1 Timothy 2:1-15, and Luke 16:1-15. As is standard with the service of Matins, we will not use the Introit. Instead we will use the appointed Psalm, which this week is Psalm 113. The antiphon will be verse 3. The sermon, titled “Handel With Care,” is based on the Gospel lesson. The text will be Luke 16:10. Our hymns will be “Lord, Help Us Walk Your Servant Way” (LSB 857), “How Clear Is Our Vocation, Lord” (LSB 853), and “Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways” (LSB 707). “How Clear Is Our Vocation, Lord” is a new hymn for us, and we will sing it each Sunday for the next four weeks, as we learn it.

The following vide of our closing hymn, “Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways.” It is another video by Rachel, the “Lutheran warbler” For more of her video’s check out her Lutheranwarbler’s Channel.

Preview of the Lessons

Amos 8:4-7: This reading is pure “Law.” Amos lived and preached in the 8th century BC. The Israelites had abandoned their faith, but had retained a formal imitation. In-other-words, they thought they could craft their own religion, go through the motions, and God would be pleased (sounds a lot like the USA today). This false doctrine led to self-serving, self-centered, action. If God’s rules got in the way, then God was the inconvenient, even unreasonable, being. The actions specific condemned by Amos are: abuse of the poor and needy (4); disrespect/ignoring worship for business reasons (5), cheating business practices (5), slave trade (6), and swindling (6). If they will not repent, they will be judged, for God will surely remember their actions (7).

1 Timothy 2:1-15: This letter is basically advice to Timothy from Paul about how to be a pastor. In this reading Paul reminds Timothy (and us) to pray, some of what we are to pray about, and why (1—8). This section also reminds us that Christ is our only mediator, which is why we do not pray to the saints. Paul then instructs women to dress modestly (9-10). What exactly is modes dress varies from culture to culture and age to age, but the general rule is to dress modestly. I guess you could say, if you would be embarrassed if your mother wore this or that item then you should give it a second thought before you put it on. Verses 11-14 deal with a woman’s roll in the Church and is one of the passages often cited to demonstrate that the pastoral office is reserved by God for men. Paul bases this on the “orders of creation,” that is, this is how thing have been arranged from the beginning. Verse 15 has the unusual phrase that women “will be saved through childbearing – if they continue in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.” Paul does not mean childbearing somehow grants salvation to women. Not only would this understanding contradict Paul’s plain statements elsewhere in his letters (Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-9; etc.) but also it would mean that women who do not have children, for whatever reason, could not be saved. Paul refers to childbearing because it is as distinctively a female vocation as you can get. A man might clean house, cook dinner, etc., but he will not be able to bear a child. That truly is “woman’s work.” He adds to this “woman’s work” faith, love, holiness, and self-control, further underscoring that childbearing is not a saving event for the woman. It sums up the vocation of women. Paul is saying that faith is exercised in the vocations God grants us. We endure to the end, living the lives God has given us in faith, and inherit eternal life.

Luke 16:1-15: This reading has the parable of the “unrighteous manager.” This parable disturbs many because the master (who represents Jesus/God) praises the unrighteous manager. To understand the parable you must remember the hero is the master. The unrighteous manager is praised because he trusted the goodness of the master. The parable is followed by encouraging us to not have two masters (wealth and God) for this is impossible. In the end you will have only one master. Trust Jesus/God, not your wealth (or whatever), is the message of the parable and the postlogue Jesus gives. This is why the Pharisees who hear this parable rejected it. They were sure that they could place wealth first in their lives and God would not have any problem with it. Sounds like the Old Testament lesson.

Sunday’s Collect

O Lord, keep Your Church in Your perpetual mercy; and because without You we cannot but fall, preserve us from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Gradual (Psalm 34:9, 19, alt.)

Fear the LORD, you his saints,
for those who fear him lack nothing!
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.

Verse (1 Tim. 2:5-6a)

Alleluia. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. Alleluia.

Introit Psalm (113; antiphon: v. 3)

From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD,
praise the name of the LORD!
Blessed be the name of the LORD
from this time forth and forevermore!
.From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!
The LORD is high above all nations,
and his glory above the heavens!
Who is like the LORD our God,
who is seated on high,
who looks far down
on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people
He gives the barren woman a home,
making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.
.From the rising of the sun to its setting,
the name of the LORD is to be praised!

Adult Bible Study

We continue our series “Puzzlers and Questions about the Bible.” The next submission was not really a question. It read: “1 Corinthians 15:45 – Living Soul vs. quickening Spirit”. To understand these terms we need to understand the “Adam Typology” Paul uses in the chapter. Therefore I’ve named the study “Adam & Christ.” Class begins at 9:00 AM.

Well, I hope to see you Sunday.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert