Sunday, October 21, 2018

self-giving love 10-21-2018

Worship on Sunday, October 21 …

In our series – “Loving God, Loving Others” – we dive deep in understanding the fullness of self-giving love, even as it expresses itself in the lives of Christian martyrs.
╬  “You are my friends!” What a blessing!  What a gift!  Jesus claims us as friends, in the fullest sense of the word.  In doing so he, reveals the true depth of “agape,” self-giving love.  To love with the whole self.  He goes so far as to express the last full measure of that love:  to give one’s life – literally and purposefully – for the sake of another.  Today we explore that depth of that love, as it is expressed in the life of Jesus, and as we see it lived in the lives of the “martyros.”

 Below are the Prayer of the Day and Readings. 
God has reached to you in Christ and called you friends!

 - Pr. Brad Highum
bhighum@abidinglove.org

 PRAYER OF THE DAY ------------------------
God of all, in Christ you befriend us as your own.  And you call us to reach to others with that same love and friendship.  Inspire us to love in that self-giving way we see revealed in Jesus. Amen.

 READINGS -------------------------------------
First Reading:  Revelation 6:9-11
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; 10 they cried out with a loud voice, "Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" 11 They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.

 Psalm 31:11-17
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries, a horror to my neighbors, an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel.
13 For I hear the whispering of many — terror all around! — as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life.
14 But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, "You are my God."
15 My times are in your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16 Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.
17 Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord, for I call on you;

 Second Reading:  Acts 6:8-15
8 Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9 Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. 10 But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. 11 Then they secretly instigated some men to say, "We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God." 12 They stirred up the people as well as the elders and the scribes; then they suddenly confronted him, seized him, and brought him before the council. 13 They set up false witnesses who said, "This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law; 14 for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses handed on to us." 15 And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

 Gospel:  John 15:12-17
12 "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
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