Wednesday Words for September 17, 2014
From Interim Senior Pastor Len Hoffmann
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Coming Events
Worship 8:00, 9:00, and 10:30 am with Children’s Church, Sunday School and Adult Education at 9:00 am. Children are to go to their classrooms and then they will go as classes to Children’s Church. Get acquainted hour 10:00 a.m..
Adult Classes at 9:00 am. Parenting Class – Bad Girls of the Bible (Men are Welcome!)
New Member Class for this Sunday has been postponed until a future date due to scheduling conflicts. Thank You!
Please RSVP (let us know you’re coming) to the first of five Fanning the Flame-Unlocking Our Potential gatherings. We need all voices. Please join in engaging God’s future for our congregation. Thursday, September 25. Soup Supper 5:45 – 6:15 Session 1 6:30 – 8:30 pm.
PADS Ministry begins Sunday, October 5. We will recognize and bless all PADS Ministry Volunteers at worship on that day.
Thought for the Day
The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Psalm 145:8
Sunday at Bethany:
In the midst of some very bad news (ISIS, Syria, Afghanistan, Africa, and domestic violence) it is easy to forget and lose sight of the abundance of grace, compassion, and steadfast love of God.
When interviewed by the media, the brother of the decapitated British citizen aid worker said, “My first reaction is anger and hatred, but my brother wasn’t about that he was about love.”
This statement is especially true about God. In Jesus Christ we come to know that God is not about punishment and anger, but God is gracious, full of compassion and abounding in steadfast love.
As the Gospel for this week reminds us God’s goodness and grace is not about rewarding those who get it right or work the hardest, but rather God’s abundance is poured out upon us all, as Luther says, “without any merit or worthiness in me.” He goes on to say, “Therefore we are to pray, praise and give thanks.
The biblical way of saying thanks to God, our thank you note, is through our offerings. Our offering are not given as a bargaining chip to get something back from God, but a recognition of how abundant are the blessings of God to us. The response of our offerings to God enables us to engage in God’s work in our congregation, community and world.
Pr. Len
Lectionary 25
Proper 20
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Prayer of the Day
Almighty and eternal God, you show perpetual loving-kindness to us your servants. Because we cannot rely on our own abilities, grant us your merciful judgment, and train us to embody the generosity of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
First Reading Jonah 3:10 - 4:11
After Jonah's short sermon in 3:4, the Ninevites all repented and God decided to spare the city. Jonah objected to this and became even more angry when God ordered a worm to destroy a plant that was providing shade. The book ends with a question that challenges any who are not ready to forgive: You, Jonah, are all worked up about a bush, but should not I be concerned about a hundred and twenty thousand Ninevites who do not know the difference between their right and left hands?
Chapter 3
10When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
Chapter 4
But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" 5Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
6The Lord GOD appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live."
9But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." 10Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"
Second Reading Philippians 1:21-30
Paul writes to the Philippians from prison. Though he is uncertain about the outcome of his imprisonment, he is committed to the ministry of the gospel and calls on the Philippians to live lives that reflect and enhance the gospel mission.
21For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; 24but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. 25Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, 26so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
27Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, 28and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God's doing. 29For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well — 30since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
The Gospel Matthew 20:1-16
Jesus tells a parable about God's generosity, challenging the common assumption that God rewards people according to what they have earned or deserve.
For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. 6And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' 7They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' 9When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' 13But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last."
