October 25 – Twenty-first after Pentecost

 

Worship materials for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost through Reign of Christ Sunday were contributed by Richard Bott, St. Andrew’s Haney United Church, Maple Ridge, B.C., and Shannon Tennant, Shiloh Sixth United Church, New Westminster, B.C.

Lectionary

Lectionary readings from Vanderbilt Divinity Library online

(http://divinity.library.vanderbilt.edu/lectionary/BPentecost/bProper25.htm)

 

Job 42:1–6, 10–17

Job acknowledges God’s power; Job’s fortunes are restored.

Psalm 34:1–8, (19–22) (VU pgs. 761–762)

Taste and see that God is good.

Hebrews 7:23–28

Christ the permanent High Priest.

Mark 10:46–52

The healing of blind Bartimaeus.

Spark

Invite the congregation to take some time in quiet reflection. During that time, help the congregants to focus on each of their senses—sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch. Invite them to reflect on a time when each sense was affected in a particularly vivid way and to reflect on the difficulties and blessings that their senses have offered them.

With Children

Ask: do you ever find that people don’t listen to you? Why do we not listen to some people? (Because they’re smaller...quieter...don’t speak our language...are not “cool.”) What things could we do to be heard, and what things could we do to help others be heard? Link this discussion to the way that Jesus helped Bartimaeus to be heard.

Sermon Starter

As much as the dominant Canadian culture works to be egalitarian, there are times we do not want to hear the voices of need. Like the folks who told Bartimaeus “to shut up” (Mark 10:48, The Complete Gospels¹), there have been, and continue to be, times when we try to shut those voices out...or try to shut them down. How do we deal with our surprise (and our shame) when we realize that Jesus is saying to the people whose voices we’re shutting out, “Tell them to come over here” (Mark 10:49, The Complete Gospels²⁾? In the gospel lesson, the crowd does a rather abrupt about-face. How ready are we to open up to those voices, especially if God is calling us to do something about them?

Hymns

Hebrew Scripture

VU 276            “O God who shaped creation”

VU 894            “Holy God, we praise your name”

MV 85             “Take, O take me as I am”

MV 106           “I am the dream”

Psalm

MV 196           “We will take what you offer”

MV 202           “Bread for the journey”

Gospel

VU 371            “Open my eyes”

MV 62             “There is room for all”

MV 66             “Senzeni na?”

MV 136           “When hands reach out and fingers trace”