17th Sunday after Pentecost: 19 Sep 2021
+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Opening:
O Lord, you have taught us that without love, all our deeds are
worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts
that most excellent gift of charity, the true bond of peace and of
all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before
you; grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives
and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and
ever. Amen.
“And he sat down and called the twelve.
And he said to them, “If anyone would be first,
he must be last of all and servant of all.””
(Mark 9:35)
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Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
Nathan and Christy Nockels (and Band), Hymns Ancient and Modern, 2004
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OT Reading: Jeremiah 11:18-20 (ESV)
11:18 The Lord made it known to me and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
I did not know it was against me
they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name be remembered no more.”
20 But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance upon them,
for to you have I committed my cause.
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Psalm: Psalm 54
(The Lord Upholds My Life) – Francesca LaRosa
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NT Reading: James 3:16-4:6 (ESV)
3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Warning Against Worldliness
4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
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He Giveth More Grace | The Living Stones Quartet
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Gospel Reading: Mark 9:30-37 (ESV)
Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection
9:30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Who Is the Greatest?
9:33 And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
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Make Me A Servant by Maranatha Singers.
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Prayer:
+ O Lord our heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served, but to serve: We ask you to bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; endue them with wisdom, patience, and courage, that they may strengthen the weak and raise up those who fall, and, being inspired by your love, may worthily minister to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the sake of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
+ Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
+ Christ as a light, illumine and guide us. Christ as a shield, overshadow us. Christ under us; Christ over us; Christ beside us on our left and our right. This day be within and without us, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom we speak; in the mouth of each who speaks to us. This day be within and without us, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside us on our left and our right.
Benediction: (Jude 24-25)
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.
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+ In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Peanut Gallery 