Greetings!
This week we are back on our usual Sunday Fall schedule with Bible Study at 9:30 and Worship at 10:45am.
Here are this week’s events:
Sunday, September 15
9:30 – 10:30am Adult Bible Study & Sunday School
10:45 – 11:45am Livestream Worship in-person
3 – 4:30pm Zoom Bible Study
Tuesday, September 17
9 – 11am Streams Food Pantry
10:30am – 12pm Bible Study, Office Conference Rm
6:30 – 8pm Council Meeting, Office Conference Rm
7 – 9pm Native American Flute Circle, Streams Sanctuary
Wednesday, September 18
8:30 – 11:30am Workday
9 – 11:30am Quilters – Large Fellowship Hall
11am – 12pm VdC Grouping, Office Conference Rm
5:15 – 7:30pm Friends & Family Dinner & a Movie
5:45 – 7:30pm Youth Group
Thursday, September 19
9 – 11am VdC Grouping, Office Conference Rm
6 – 7pm Bell’s Angels practice
7:15 – 8:30pm Joy Choir
Sunday, September 22
9:30 – 10:30am Adult Bible Study & Sunday School
10:45 – 11:45am Livestream Worship in-person
11:50am – 12:20pm Building & Grounds – Classroom A
3 – 4:30pm Zoom Bible Study
You can check out the calendar and watch any of our worship services or read our newsletter on our Website: www.streamstuc.org
Know that you are loved,
Pr Tom
Welcome
GATHERING SONGS Shout To The LordELW #821
My Jesus, my Savior, Lord there is none like You,
All of my days, I want to praise,
The wonders of Your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength,
Let every breath, all that I am,
Never cease to worship You
Chorus
Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing,
Power and majesty praise to the King.
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of Your hands,
Forever I’ll love You forever I’ll stand,
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.
I HAVE DECIDED TO FOLLOW JESUS
Verse 1 I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
I have decided to follow Jesus.
No turning back, no turning back.
Verse 2 Tho’ no one join me, Still I will follow.
Tho’ no one join me, Still I will follow.
Tho’ no one join me, Still I will follow.
No turning back, No turning back.
Verse 3 The world behind me, The cross before me.
The world behind me, The cross before me.
The world behind me, The cross before me.
No turning back, No turning back.
Verse 4 Take the whole world, But give me Jesus.
Take the whole world, But give me Jesus.
Take the whole world, But give me Jesus.
No turning back, No turning back.
(Repeat verse 1, chorus, and verse 1)
Come, Now Is the Time to Worship
VerseCome, now is the time to worship;
Come, now is the time to give your heart;
Come, just as you are to worship;
Come, just as you are before your God. Come
Chorus
One day every tongue will confess You are God;
One day every knee will bow;
Still the greatest treasure remains;
For those who gladly choose You now
Repeat verse and chorus
Come, now is the time, Come, now is the time, Come.
THE CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: We are called to render our hearts and not our garments for the Lord.
People: For God has been gracious and merciful to us, and slow to anger.
Leader: Then let us seek the Lord that we might know and serve God.
People: But how shall we come before the Lord and what shall we bring?
Leader: Christ has shown us the way; bring only your love, service, and praise! .
People: Blessed be the name of the Lord!
WELCOME TO WORSHIP
Equip
PRAYER OF CONFESSION AND FORGIVENESS
Leader: Gracious God,
People: You call us to be voices for You in today’s world. Yet so often we are silent when we should speak out, we are blind when we should see and battle injustice around us, and we are content in the midst of others who are suffering. Forgive us, Lord, and give us the strength and the courage to stand firm and declare Your love through our lives. In Christ we pray. Amen.
(Silence for reflection and personal confession)
Leader:No one knows all their faults and none of us have brought sin under complete control. But Christ is not ashamed to identify with us. In his own suffering love, he offers us his life. Sisters and Brothers, your sins are forgiven; be at peace.
People: Thanks be to God!
PASSING OF THE PEACE
SONG OF PRAISE CHANGE MY HEART, OH GOD
Chorus Change my heart, oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God, may I be like you.
Verse You are the potter, I am the clay;
Mold me and make me, this is what I pray.
Chorus Change my heart, oh God, make it ever true.
Change my heart, oh God, may I be like you.
(Repeat Chorus, Verse, and Chorus)
TODAY’S BIBLE READING
Psalm 116:6-9
6The Lord watches over the innocent;
I was brought low, and God saved me.
7Turn again to your rest, O my soul.
for the Lord has dealt well with you.
8For you have rescued my life from death,
my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling;
9I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
James 3:1-12
This text uses various images to illustrate how damaging and hurtful the way we speak to and about others can be. Not only are we to control our speech, but what we say and how we say it are to reflect our faith.
1Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. 3If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. 4Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet 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 exploits.
How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, 8but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. 10From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so. 11Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and brackish water? 12Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, yield olives, or a grapevine figs? No more can salt water yield fresh.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION THY WORD
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path
And a light unto my path; you’re the light unto my path
Mark 8:27-38
This story provides the turning point in Mark’s gospel. Peter is the first human being in the narrative to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah, but he cannot accept that as the Messiah Jesus will have to suffer. Moreover, Jesus issues a strong challenge to all by connecting discipleship and the cross.
27Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” 28And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” 30And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
31Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
34He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”
SPECIAL MUSIC
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE
ADULT MESSAGE 17 PENTECOST – 9.15.24 – MARK 8:27-38
There is a ridiculous story about a group of animals in the jungle who decided to have a football game. The problem was that no one could tackle the rhinoceros. Once he got a head of steam, he was unstoppable. When he received the opening kickoff, he rambled for a touchdown. The score was seven to nothing immediately. Somehow, they managed to keep the ball away from him the remainder of the first quarter. At the beginning of the second quarter, the other team tied the score 7 to 7. The lion tried to warn the zebra on the kickoff not to kick it to the rhinoceros. But the zebra ignored the warning. The rhino caught the ball and there he was racing for the touchdown. Suddenly, out of nowhere, he was brought down with a vicious tackle. When the animals unpiled, it was discovered that a centipede had made the tackle.
“That was fantastic!” congratulated the lion. “But where were you on the opening kickoff?”
The centipede replied, “I was still putting on my shoes.”
Our text for the day is a call to put on our shoes and get into action.
Jesus says to us, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
I wonder if it’s even possible to speak in these times about self-denial. We have been called the ME generation. “I’ve got to find myself,” we say. “I’ve got to do my own thing. I will buy only the finest, because after all, `I’m worth it.'”
Such an attitude was epitomized many years ago by Margaret Trudeau, the wife of the then Prime Minister of Canada. At age 28, Ms. Trudeau, after marrying the Prime Minister of Canada and giving birth to three beautiful children, announced simply that she was abdicating. She left her husband and her children behind in order to be herself. We are the ME generation. We want what we want and we want it now.
I was reading about drive-through funerals down in Pensacola, Florida. Mourners don’t even have to leave their cars at Willie J. Jr’s. funeral parlor, to pay respects to the recently deceased. All they have to do is drive by a serenely lit 8 by 10 foot window to view their departed loved one. A pullout tray even lets them sign the guest register while sitting in their cars.
We want what we want and we want it now. We will not put up with any inconvenience. We will not be second in line. We will settle for nothing but the best.
Charles L. Allen tells about being a young pastor of a little church back in the mountains. There was an old man in the community from whom he learned a lot. This man was somewhat of a philosopher. He would tell his young pastor of life as it used to be, how very little the people had yet how happy they were. But one day, he said, the mailman left a mail order catalogue at someone’s house. The people began to look at it, first out of curiosity and then longingly.
Soon every home in the community had one of the catalogues. The old man would sadly shake his head as he told his pastor how they turned away from the things that used to mean so much. As they turned the pages of the catalogue, they forgot the beauty of the mountains around them. They thought, instead, of the many things they did not possess. Can you identify with that? We are the ME generation; we want what we want and we want it now.
How strange these words of Jesus seem in this context. “If you would follow me you must deny yourself.” Deny yourself. How out of place such words may seem.
OF COURSE there is a sense in which many of us have learned to deny ourselves. We have seen that oftentimes self-denial is in our best interest. The self-help books tell us that. Self-denial is the path to success. If you delay gratification, if you work hard, if you put your money into savings, if you wait to have your needs met until a time when you can afford it, if you cut down on your cholesterol and get plenty of exercise, then you can be successful. We all recognize the wisdom of that advice. To gain control over our desires, to subjugate them to some greater and higher goal, this is the path that leads to fulfillment.
I read about a cartoon that appeared in a magazine some time back showing a little boy attempting to lead a huge Saint Bernard dog on a leash. The dog was dragging the boy along behind and obviously in a different direction from which the boy wanted to go. The young fellow was bracing his feet and turning to the dog and angrily shouting, “Let’s get this straight! You are my dog. I’m not your boy.”
We recognize that somehow we must, if we are going to be successful, control our desires and subjugate them to our goals. How else can we be all that we can be?
We are told that our Jewish friends abstain from many pleasures on the holy day of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, not to punish themselves for their sins and win God’s favor, but in order to symbolize dramatically that they are able to exercise control over their life.
This is what separates us from animals. Animals cannot deny themselves. You can train an animal to show a certain amount of discipline but the animal cannot make that decision himself. It is a uniquely human ability to discipline and control desires and wants.
There was a certain bishop, in the horse and buggy days, who had two horses named Pride and Prejudice. He said on one occasion that people thought it was awful that a bishop should be pulled by horses by those names, but he reassured them that it was a wonderful thing that a Bishop would have Pride and Prejudice under control.
That’s a wonderful thing for any of us. It is the test of our manhood and womanhood that we are able to deny ourselves. The world says that to be a real man or a real woman we must give in to pleasure, but that’s absurd. Any creature can give in to natural impulses.
William James, the great psychologist, was adamant on this point. In fact he felt that this was the key to eliminating war. He wrote an essay in the early part of this century, entitled THE MORAL EQUIVALENT OF WAR. In it he suggested that the reason men go to war is the need to test their courage and their manhood. He suggested that people could achieve the same goal less destructively by voluntarily practicing self-denial, by getting into contests to see who could do without creature comforts, who could endure more hardship than their fellow man. Unfortunately his high ideas didn’t get very far because, insane as we are, war is more attractive than self-denial.
Even in this self-centered society, we recognize that self-denial is the path to success.
Roswell Dwight Hitchcock once said, “The secret of all success is to know how to deny yourself. Prove that you can control yourself and you are an educated man. Without this all other education is good for nothing.” Every athlete knows that’s true.
The great Babe Dedrichson Zeharias was asked by a reporter how she could hit a golf ball like she did and she answered, “Simple, first you hit a thousand golf balls. You hit them until your hands bleed and you can’t hit any more. The next day you start over again and the next day and the next and maybe a year later you might be able to go eighteen holes and after that you play every day until the time finally arrives that you know what you are doing when you hit the ball.”
Some of you remember a great running back for the Pittsburg Steelers, Rocky Blier. A lot of people don’t know that Rocky Briar served in Vietnam several months before he joined the Steelers. While there, one of his feet was crippled by an exploding grenade. One of Rocky Briar’s shoes was half the size of the other because of this wound. He was told he would never play professional football again, but Blier refused to accept that gloomy prediction. Every day he put himself through excruciating pain in order to get his body back into shape. Finally, he became a great football hero with one of the finest professional teams of all times. Such discipline is necessary in every great endeavor.
Even a self-centered generation knows that self-denial is the path to success. But there is a catch. Self-denial will not bring us fulfillment if we live only for ourselves. I am not doing this for my husband, we say. I’m not doing this for my children. I am doing it for me. Fine. That may help you stay on your diet. That may help you keep at your studies. But it will not bring you ultimate fulfillment. Ultimate fulfillment comes only when we say, “I’m doing this for God.” THERE IS ONLY ONE PATH that leads to real success. that is when we deny ourselves in order to take up the cross of Jesus.
Dr. John A. Redhead put it like this, “Imagine a man carrying two buckets, one of them filled with oil and one filled with water. Now they are completely filled so that you cannot pour the oil from its bucket into the water bucket because there is no room and besides oil and water don’t mix…Now imagine that one of these buckets is you and your will and your purpose and your plan for your life and the other is God’s will and plan and purpose for your life. Before you can know God’s will and plan and purpose for your life you’re going to have to empty your bucket to receive what he has to give. Now whom do you trust the most to know where real purpose and joy, satisfaction and peace lie with you or with the heart of God?”
The key to truly successful living is to deny ourselves in order that God may fill us to overflowing with His presence and power. As St. Paul says, “I live but not I, but Christ Jesus liveth in me.” There is the path to real success. If we who are followers of Jesus would but learn that one simple truth, we could turn this world upside down.
It is said of Alexander the Great, that most powerful of all generals of his time, that he approached a great walled city with only a handful of soldiers and demanded that the city surrender.
The people inside the city walls laughed. “Why should we surrender? You’ve only got a handful of soldiers out there.”
In way of an answer Alexander had his men line up in single file and ordered them to march. Nearby was a steep treacherous cliff. Alexander guided them directly to the edge of that great cliff, and then one by one they marched to their death as the people of the city watched in horror.
At a certain point Alexander halted the march and ordered the rest of the men back to his side. They responded without any sign of fear, relief, or panic.
When the residents of the great walled city saw the loyalty that Alexander commanded, they realized that defeat was inevitable and they surrendered.
In one sense that is a horrible story. God is not going to ask us to do anything that is deliberately self-destructive. Nevertheless, imagine what would happen if enough of us today would learn what it means to deny ourselves and take up the cross of Jesus and follow him.
Deny yourself. Take up the cross of the Master. No other lifestyle is ultimately satisfying. No other lifestyle can permanently change the world in which we live.
Illustrations and ideas of King Duncan used by permission from
Sermon and Worship Resources @ sermons.com
SERMON SONG Praise and Thanksgiving ELW #689
1 Praise and thanksgiving, God, we would offer
for all things living, you have made good:
harvest of sown fields, fruits of the orchard,
hay from the mown fields, blossom and wood.
2 God, bless the labor we bring to serve you,
that with our neighbor we may be fed.
Sowing or tilling, we would work with you,
harvesting, milling for daily bread.
3 Father, providing food for your children,
by Wisdom’s guiding teach us to share
one with another, so that, rejoicing
with us, all others may know your care.
4 Then will your blessing reach ev’ry people,
freely confessing your gracious hand.
Where you are reigning, no one will hunger;
your love sustaining showers the land.
AFFIRMING OUR FAITH Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried; He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Respond
PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH
P: Freed by God in Christ to live and love and serve, we pray for the church, those in need, and all of God’s beloved creation.
A brief silence.
P: Gracious God, you call your church to embody the love you have shown us. Raise us up each day to bear witness against sin, death, and the grave. Lord, in your mercy,
C: hear our prayer.
P: Loving God, you bless us with an abundant world. When your children wander homeless, hungry, and naked, strengthen us to be your presence as we care for all those in need (especially). Lord, in your mercy,
C: hear our prayer.
Here other intercessions may be offered.
P: Into your wide embrace, gracious God, we commend all for whom we pray, trusting in your boundless mercy through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
C: Amen.
WE WORSHIP GOD THROUGH OUR GIVING
Next, we will receive the gifts of forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation from our Lord Jesus, and respond gratefully with our offerings. Offering plates are in the front next to the aisle for your gifts. You may also donate online on the website, by text (the phone number is on the website), by mail, or personally deliver it to the office. Lives are changed through the ministry enabled by your gifts. Thank you for your continued support and partnership in the Gospel.
PRAYER OF BLESSING
P: We pray that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts would be acceptable to you, O God. We add the offering of these gifts and our lives in the hope that they are also acceptable to you. May they be evidence of our desire to follow Jesus and our turning away from all that hinders our discipleship. In Jesus’ name, we pray.
C: Amen.
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
THE LORD’S PRAYER Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.
HOLY COMMUNION
COMMUNION SONG Sing Alleluia
1. Sing alleluia to the Lord, sing alleluia to the Lord
Sing alleluia, sing alleluia, sing alleluia to the Lord
2. Jesus is risen from the dead
3. Jesus is Lord of heaven and earth
4. He’s coming back to take us home
5. We give thanks to God our King
6. He died for us, we’ll live for Him
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Benediction Song As You Go on your way
As you go on your way may Christ go with you.
May he go before you to show you the way;
May he go behind you to encourage you;
Beside you to befriend you;
Above you to watch over;
Within you to give you peace.
In the name of the Father, Son and Spirit. Amen.
Announcements
Streams Theme song
See the streams of living waters,
springing from eternal love,
well supply your sons and daughters,
and all fear of want remove.
Who can faint while such a river
ever will their thirst assuage?
Grace which, like the Lord, the giver,
never fails from age to age.
SENDING BLESSING
Pastor: Greet your worshiping neighbor. Go in peace and Serve One Another!
People: Thanks be to God!!!