Sunday, August 19, 2018

Lord over the sabbath Aug 19,2018

Worship on Sunday, August 19 …

 We seek to make the practice of sabbath a living reality in our lives!
╬ “Sabbath was made for us!”  In Scripture, no sooner does God bless us with the gift of sabbath but people begin to get very legalistic about it. This loving invitation from God is translated into a commandment and a host of other law codes governing its proper application in the lives of the people.  Jesus confronts this legalism with a strong rebuke.  “Sabbath was made for people, not people for the sabbath!”  Sabbath is a spiritual discipline, instituted by God.  But it is meant to be practiced for our own well-being and for the sake of human community and all creation. 



  Below are the Readings and Prayer of the Day.

 Let’s embrace sabbath, not as “one more thing to do,” but as the invitation to a fuller and more peaceful life as God intends!

 Blessings all,
- Pr. Brad Highum
bhighum@abidinglove.org

 PRAYER OF THE DAY -----------------------
God of life, we seek the blessings of balance and sufficiency in daily living.  Guide us into the practice of sabbath that it might become a place of restoration and renewal in our lives.  Amen.

 READINGS -------------------------

 First Reading:  Exodus 31:12-18
12 The Lord said to Moses: 13 You yourself are to speak to the Israelites, saying: "You shall keep my sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the sabbath, because it is holy for you; everyone who profanes it shall be put to death; whoever does any work on it shall be cut off from among the people. 15 Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the Israelites shall keep the sabbath, observing the sabbath throughout their generations, as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed."  18 When God finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

 Psalm 51:1-3,6-12
1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
6 You desire truth in the inward being; therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.

 Second Reading:  1 Peter 1:3-9
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, 7 so that the genuineness of your faith — being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

 Gospel:  Mark 2:23-28
23 One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?" 25 And he said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26 He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions." 27 Then he said to them, "The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28 so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath."

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