Wednesday Words for July 16, 2014
From Interim Senior Pastor Len Hoffmann
Scroll down to find the link to your Bethany Weekly Newsletter!
Thought for the Day:
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:24-25
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Kelly, our office manager, will be on vacation July 14 - 18. If you need assistance the rest of this week, please call the church office at 815-459-2690 and one of the Bethany staff will assist you.
Pastor Paul will be on vacation beginning today. He will return on Friday, July 25.
Christmas in July: It’s the annual Christmas in July outreach opportunity. There are items that are needed this time of year for a variety of social ministry organizations. Please take an “ornament” with a desired gift and return it to the church by the last Sunday in July when gifts will be dedicated and distributed by the Social Action Committee. Christmas Hymns will be sung on July 27.
Thanks to our Seniors for the Ice Cream Social. It’s 20th year and a great time for all.
Thanks to Pr. Paul, Barb and all volunteers for the great VBS. 74 Children and 38 Staff
Sunday Morning Announcements: Please consider entering the Sanctuary a few minutes early for Welcome and Announcements. We want to welcome everyone, especially our guests. It is very helpful to get announcements into the Bethany Weekly Newsletter. Announcements need to be in the church office by Tuesday morning. If something needs special attention please let Pastor Len know prior to worship.
Sunday at Bethany: I was thinking about Christmas in July and remembering back to when I was a young boy. I hoped for a lot of things back then. I hoped for a snow day or two, which was a rare occurrence in St. Louis. I hoped for various Christmas presents over the years..
As I grew older I realized that my hopes were really wishes. Hope from a Christian perspective is not wishes and not wishful thinking. Hope is grounded in the power of God to deliver what God promises, and God always delivers.
God’s greatest delivery came in the person and work of Jesus. God delivered hope to the hopeless. We need hope to live. We need hope to get up every day and face the challenges and changes of life. We have the assurance of things hoped for through faith in Jesus Christ. The tough part at times is to wait for the promises to be fulfilled in our lives. Therefore, we need to continue to discern through prayer, worship and the study of scripture how God is delivering hope to our lives, our community and our world. So, we wait with patience. We wait with hope.
Pastor Len
Lectionary 16
Proper 11
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
Prayer of the Day
Faithful God, most merciful judge, you care for your children with firmness and compassion.
By your Spirit nurture us who live in your kingdom, that we may be rooted in the way of your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
First Reading Isaiah 44:6-8
God claims the right to sole rule, because God announces things that actually do happen, while supposed divine opponents remain silent. God is Israel's redeemer, that is, the best brother or sister they ever had.
6Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
7Who is like me? Let them proclaim it,
let them declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.
8Do not fear, or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one
Second Reading Romans 8:12-25
For Paul, true spirituality means that we experience the reality of the Spirit, which enables us to pray as God's children, keeps us in solidarity with creation, and gives us unseen hope that God will liberate us and creation from bondage to death and decay.
12So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 13for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" 16it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
The Gospel Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42
Jesus tells a parable about the co-existence of good and evil in this world. God's judgment will remove all evildoers and causes of sin, but not until the end of human history.
24He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; 25but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. 27And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, 'Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?' 28He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' 29But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. 30Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
36Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field." 37He answered, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; 38the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, 42and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
