The traditional Christian church calendar is comprised of seasons and special days. We are in the season of Pentecost. Pentecost is the longest season of the church calendar and concludes with Christ the King Sunday. Let us consider how we are empowered to act for God this season.
Brief Order For Confession and Forgiveness
Music to accompany this worship is on Spotify at:
Entrance Hymn
Forth in Thy Name, O Lord, I Go
Kyrie
Hymn of Praise
Prayer of the Day
O Lord God, you are the holy lawgiver, you are the salvation of your people. By your Spirit renew us in your covenant of love, and train us to care tenderly for all our neighbors, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
The First Lesson
Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
15 You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.
16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.
18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
Psalm
Psalm 1(2)
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;
2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.
3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6 for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
The Second Lesson
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
1 You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain,
2 but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition.
3 For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery,
4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.
5 As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed;
6 nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others,
7 though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children.
8 So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.
The Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia. Beloved, since God loved | us so much,
we also ought to love | one another. Alleluia. (1 John 4:11)
The Gospel
Matthew 22:34-46
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”
37 He said to him, ” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the greatest and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question:
42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.”
43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,
44 “The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ‘?
45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?”
46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
The Sermon
Our actions demonstrate our beliefs
The Hymn of the Day
Father Eternal, Ruler of Creation
The Creed
The Peace
Bear with One Another
The Prayers
The Offering
Communion
The Lord’s Prayer
Communion Hymns
There Is a Hope
Communal Blessing
Dismissal
The Bible readings are from the New Revised Standard Version. I wish to thank the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, ELCA, and its predecessor bodies for all their teaching. I’ve used the Lectionary published on the ELCA website at elca.org in preparation for this worship.