September 30 – Eighteenth after Pentecost

September 30 – Eighteenth after Pentecost

Worship materials for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost through the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost were contributed by Adam Hanley of Kelvin Teeterville Vanessa P.C., Scotland, Ont.

 

Esther 7:1–6, 9–10; 9:20–22 

Esther pleads for the life of her people.

 

Psalm 124 (VU p. 848)

If God had not been at our side.

 

James 5:13–20

The sick should be anointed by the elders.

 

Mark 9:38–50

If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off.

Spark

Although the Jewish celebration of Purim, which remembers the story of Esther, happens in the late winter and the lectionary remembers Esther in the fall, you could try to purchase or make some Hamantash cookies. These Jewish pastries are commonly associated with Purim and are triangular like the hat of Haman, the villain of this story. Serving these cookies would pave the way for some interfaith connection or discussion.

Theme Engagement Question

Have you experienced a stumbling block in your faith journey? What took you from being a victim of the stumbling block and helped you move on with your faith journey?

With Children

The Epistle of James talks about the importance of prayer in the life of the church. Prayer is an important part of our spiritual practice, and sometimes we need to teach people, especially the children of our congregation, what prayer is about and how varied it can be. Doris Kizinna’s book Go Deep: Spiritual Practices for Youth Ministry (Copperhouse, 2009) outlines a large number of spiritual practices that one can do with people of any age in the congregation. Choose one or two of these to share with the whole worshipping community.

 

You might also show that we can pray with our whole bodies and not just with our voices. Together write a short prayer and develop actions for each line or phrase. Close this time together by praying your body prayer together.

Sermon Starter

With the discussion of exorcists and self-mutilation in this text from Mark, some of us may want to preach on something else. But there are some key questions to explore. What stumbling blocks do we put before believers and those little ones curious about Jesus? Building on last week’s gospel, this could be an opportunity to preach about your congregation’s theology and practice of welcoming. What are the stumbling blocks to being welcomed into your congregation? Jesus is clearly talking about how his followers need to change. What do we need to be doing differently so we can follow the call of Jesus to “be at peace with one another” (Mark 9:50)? Are we at peace with one another in the faith community and in the larger Christian church?

Hymns

Hebrew Scripture

VU 216            “Sing praise to God, who reigns above”

VU 287            “Wellspring of wisdom”

 

Psalm

VU p. 806            “O God, our help in ages past”

 

Epistle

VU 376            “Spirit of the living God”

VU 400            “Lord, listen to your children praying”

VU 664            “What a friend we have in Jesus”

MV 96             “And when you call for me”

 

Gospel

VU 34              “Come now, O God of peace”

VU 335            “At the name of Jesus”

VU 362            “Here, O God, your servants gather”

VU 676            “God, make us servants of your peace”

MV 221            “I am walking a path of peace”