Worship Notes for Pentecost 16, 2015

Thursday after Pentecost 19

September 10, 2015

The Lord be with you.

Before I write about Sunday, I want to remind everyone about our Vigil of Repentance in Remembrance of the Victims of Abortion, which will be this coming Saturday (September 12) at 7:00 pm. We will be using the prayer vigil developed by the Synod. Let us join together before the Lord in prayer that our nation may be healed.

Now, we move on to this coming Sunday, which will be Pentecost 16 (September 13). On the national calendar we will be observing Grandparents’ Day. At Lamb of God we will be remembering grandparents in our prayers. I placed a post on the blog about this, including the prayer we will use, and a link with additional information about Grandparents’ Day. To go to that post, just follow this link: GRANDPARENTS’ DAY.

Sunday we will be using the Divine Service, setting three, for our liturgy (page 184). This is a communion service. You may wonder why I always write “this is a communion service” when we use one of the Divine Service settings in light of the fact that we always celebrate the Lord’s Supper when we use one of them. That is because they can be modified to be a service without communion, and many of our churches do this. However, at Lamb of God, when we do not celebrate the Lord’s Supper we typically use one of the services that were crafted with this in mind, like Matins or the Service of Prayer and Preaching.

Our readings for Sunday will be Isaiah 50:4-10, James 3:1-12 and Mark 9:14-29. The text for the sermon will be James 3:10. The sermon will be titled “Curses and Blessings.”

Our opening hymn will be “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle” (LSB 454). This is one of those hymns we learned a few years ago, singing it every Sunday for a month. It happens to be a Holy Week hymn, but it speaks of using our “tongues” in a proper way, which will be a focus of the sermon. The sermon hymn will be “Oh, for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” (LSB 528). The closing hymn will be “Spread the Reign of God the Lord” (LSB 830).  Our distribution hymns will be “O Bless the Lord, My Soul” (LSB 814) and “O Jesus, Blessed Lord, to Thee” (LSB 632).

As noted above, our opening hymn will be “Sing, My Tongue, the Glorious Battle” (LSB 454). Below is a video of the hymn, sung by the Lutheran Warbler. She usually plays a piano, but in this video she plays an organ.

Our adult Bible class is working through the study, Word: God Speaks to Us. The author is John T. Pless and it is part of the Lutheran Spirituality series published by Concordia Publishing House. This Sunday we will finish the second lesson (really), “The Words That Kill and Give Life.” We have extra study guides. Join us and be blessed by the Word of God, which is a means of grace.

As noted this past Sunday, we are returning to an old practice of ours which is to remember sister denominations in our prayers on Sunday. These are churches we are in Altar and Pulpit fellowship. This Sunday we will be remembering the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana (ELCG), and their President Dr. Paul Kofi Fynn.

What follows is a synopsis of Sunday’s lessons, provided by the synod, then the lessons. As always, the synopsis does not factor in the appointed Psalm, but you should have no trouble understanding how it relates. Following the readings are some additional notes.

Christ Jesus Delivers Us from Sin, Death and the Devil

Those who teach the Word of God “will be judged with greater strictness” (James 3:1) because it is by the Word that saving faith is obtained, whereas false doctrine always threatens to destroy Christian faith and life. The tongue “boasts of great things,” whether for good or evil (James 3:5). In fallen man, “it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (James 3:8). But anyone who bridles his tongue with the Word of God, who “does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man” (James 3:2). It is Christ who opens His ear to the voice of His Father, so that, with “the tongue of those who are taught,” He is able to sustain the weary “with a word” (Is. 50:4–5). Entrusting Himself to His Father, even to death, He is not put to shame but is vindicated in His resurrection (Is. 50:6–9). By His faith and faithfulness, He casts out the “mute and deaf spirit” from us (Mark 9:25). He has compassion on us and helps us, so that we are not destroyed but cleansed from every evil and raised up from death to life (Mark 9:22–27).

Isaiah 50:4-10

⁴           The Lord God has given me

                        the tongue of those who are taught,

            that I may know how to sustain with a word

                        him who is weary.

            Morning by morning he awakens;

                        he awakens my ear

                        to hear as those who are taught.

⁵           The Lord God has opened my ear,

                        and I was not rebellious;

                        I turned not backward.

⁶           I gave my back to those who strike,

                        and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;

            I hid not my face

                        from disgrace and spitting.

⁷           But the Lord God helps me;

                        therefore I have not been disgraced;

            therefore I have set my face like a flint,

                        and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

                        He who vindicates me is near.

⁸           Who will contend with me?

                        Let us stand up together.

            Who is my adversary?

                        Let him come near to me.

⁹           Behold, the Lord God helps me;

                        who will declare me guilty?

            Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;

                        the moth will eat them up.

¹⁰          Who among you fears the Lord

                        and obeys the voice of his servant?

            Let him who walks in darkness

                        and has no light

            trust in the name of the Lord

                        and rely on his God.

James 3:1-12

^3:1         Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. ²For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. ³If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. ⁴Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. ⁵So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

            How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, ⁸but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. ¹⁰From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? ¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Mark 9:14-29

¹⁴          And when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” ¹⁷And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” ¹⁹And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”^a

^a9:29 Some manuscripts add and fasting

Some Additional Notes

• Remember, this Saturday, September 12, 7:00 pm, we are having A Vigil of Repentance in Remembrance of the Victims of Abortion. Everyone is welcome.

• E-Porch with President John Denninger is back. He will be sharing on the topic “Called to Be - Living in our Baptism.” Just click on the title to go to the post on the blog about it. It will be this Tuesday at 7:30 pm.

• Keep Praying for your Neighbors and Walking your Neighborhoods.

• Don’t forget to check out the other posts from earlier this week. An easy way to review the titles is by looking at the left hand side of this blog. If a title catches your attention, just click on it and you will go to that post.

• Remember, you can link one or more of our blog posts to your facebook (or other social media) page. Find one you like and share it.

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Rickert