St. John’s Internet Church
Weekly Online Worship Service
The Rt. Rev. Dr. +Everett A. Brown, Rector
Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
The Holy Eucharist: Rite II
INSTRUCTIONS: The words printed in “bold”
type are the words spoken
By Bishop Everett and the words in “regular” type are the words for you,
the people, to speak, either aloud, or
silently, as you worship at St.
John’s Internet Church.
The Word of God
A hymn,
song, or anthem may be sung
Bishop
Everett, the Celebrant, says:
Blessed be God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
People: And blessed be his kingdom, now and forever.
Amen.
Bishop
Everett: Let us pray.
Almighty
God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known,
and from you
no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our
hearts by
the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may
perfectly
love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name;
through
Christ our Lord.
Amen.
The
following hymn is sung or said
Glory to God
in the highest,
and peace to his people on earth.
Lord God,
heavenly King,
almighty God
and Father,
we worship you, we give you thanks,
we praise you for your glory.
Lord Jesus
Christ, only Son of the Father,
Lord God,
Lamb of God,
you take
away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
you are
seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For you
alone are the Holy One,
you alone
are the Lord,
you alone
are the Most High,
Jesus Christ,
with
the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
The Gospel Lesson
Bishop
Everett: The Holy
Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ
according to Matthew 13: 1-23.
People: Glory
to you, Lord Christ.
Please take your Bible and read the Gospel lesson.
Bishop
Everett: The Gospel
of the Lord.
People: Praise
to you, Lord Christ.
The Sermon:
Put Yourself Into It
"As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit." (Matthew 13:23).
A seminary student was showing little promise of developing into a good preacher. One day, as he stumbled through a practice sermon in class, his homiletics professor called out to him from the back of the room: "Why can't you be more enthusiastic? Speak louder. Open your mouth. Put yourself into it!"
No better phrase could describe the energy and enthusiasm of the New Testament writers: "They put themselves into it!" They wanted us to know and love Christ as they did. They made a particular effort to try to get us to think of Christ as the Word of God.
The Apostle Peter has written, "Your rebirth has come, not from a destructible but from an indestructible seed through the living and enduring Word of God."
Then, quoting from the Old Testament Prophet, Isaiah, Peter says:
All mankind is grass and the glory of men is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, but the Word is the Gospel which was preached to you" (1 Pt. 1:23-25).
Among all the other ancient religions, sight is primary in the relationship with God. There is an emphasis on visions or on idols that one can see. In our Judeo-Christian Tradition, the element of sight has not been absent. Prophets were referred to as "seers" or "visionaries," for example. Nevertheless, in the Judeo-Christian Tradition, the encounter with God is not primarily through seeing but hearing. The "Word of the Lord" is a phrase that occurs hundreds of times in the Old Testament.
According to a story told by the late humorist, Bennett Cerf, there were press agents at work all the way back to the time of Moses in the Old Testament. It seems that Moses' chief publicity person was urging him to build a bridge across the Red Sea as an escape route from the Egyptians. "There is no time for that," said Moses. "I have just received the Word of the Lord. I am to order the Red Sea to part in the middle and we'll just walk right through." To which the press agent replied, "You do that Moses and I'll guarantee you at least two full pages in the Old Testament."
Open your Bible to the very beginning -- the creation story in the Book of Genesis -- and you will read, "Then God said, 'Let there be light.'" (Gen. 1:3). And from that point on, emphasis on the spoken word of God continues to build:
Then the Word of the Lord came to Abraham (Gn. 15:4). And Moses commanded the People according to the Word of the Lord (Num. 396:5). The Word of the Lord came to Samuel (1 Sa. 15:10). Hear the Word of the Lord! ... Hear the Word of the Lord! ... Hear the Word of the Lord!
On and on it goes and, as it does, it picks up more and more content, so that the "Word" is not merely a sound but a Presence. The Word is filled with God's Presence. The Word is filled with the pre-existent Christ-Presence. Finally, when we come into the New Testament, John tells us in his Gospel that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God ... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn. 1:1, 14).
This Word is with you always, calling you by name. In order to hear it clearly, you need to go deep down -- below the noise and the distraction and the confusion and the busyness of your life. You need to go down deep to the level of spaciousness and silence, where this Word is given to you: this Word that is more than sound; this Word that makes you uniquely you; this Word that is your life. And when you allow it to come into your life, it will reverberate through your whole being.
The professor in a college English class was trying to impress upon his students the value of a rich vocabulary. He said to them, "If you will just take a new word and use it ten times it will be yours forever." Whereupon, a young woman in the class looked dreamily out the window and started saying, "George, George, George, George ... "
What the New Testament writers are trying to impress on you is that if you take this Word, which is Christ, and make it truly yours forever, you will be born again to a living hope, born again to a new life.
When you turn to Scripture, something special happens because Scripture is the Word of God coming to us in a very special way. Yet, how many of us read our Bible for an average of, say, ten minutes a day? That's one problem. Another problem is that when we do get into our Bible, we merely study it. Bible study is valuable, but we must remember that "understanding the Scripture" is not a mere intellectual exercise. The Bible is not simply one more puzzle, along with others, to be solved. We need to understand that there is a profound difference between studying the Bible and praying the Bible. Studying the Bible gives us a certain richness we can bring into the experience of Scripture reading. But in praying the Bible, we settle down in our quiet time, select a passage, let's say in the Gospel, and we begin to read slowly. We bring our mind into it, of course. But we bring more than our mind -- we bring our whole self. If we open our minds and hearts to the Word of God in this way, God uses the occasion to make His Presence very real to us. And the experience becomes an encounter with the living Word of God.
In today's Gospel Lesson, Jesus is speaking in parables to the crowds gathered about Him. He tells them the story of "a sower who went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path." Since this ground, which had been walked on, was hard, the birds came and devoured the seeds. Some seeds fell on rocky ground "where they had not much soil." Consequently, the plants that sprang up were not deeply rooted and they quickly withered and died. Some seeds fell among the thorns that had been turned under when the land was plowed, and the thorns grew up and choked them. "Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold." Later in the Lesson, Jesus interprets the parable for the disciples. The seed in hard, rocky ground represents His followers who have heard His Word and accepted it in faith. But not all persevere in the faith. There are some who receive the Word with great joy but do not allow it to take root deep within their being. Consequently, when trouble or persecution occurs because of the faith, they soon falter. "As for what was sown among thorns, "these are the ones who hear the Word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." As for what was sown on good soil, "these are the faithful who hear the Word and persevere in it. They indeed bear fruit -- as much as a hundredfold."
A few years ago, "National Geographic" magazine ran a two-page aerial photograph of the Berlin Wall. It was really a double wall. Between the walls there was a "no-man's land" filled with all manner of obstacles: upturned spikes, barbed wire, electric fences, trip alarms, watch dogs, vehicle traps, flood lights, etc. In the "National Geographic" picture, one saw an abandoned Church still standing in the middle of the double wall. It stood empty and unused, of course. Ironically, the name of that Church was "The Church of Reconciliation." Why the Soviets allowed the Church to remain standing was not explained. But for hearers and receivers of the word, it stood as a powerful symbol of hope in the Resurrection Power of God.
"He who hears the Word and understands it, he indeed bears fruit" (Mt 13:23). We can inspire the world to a new and living hope by hearing and receiving Jesus Christ, the living Word -- of God! We can be Christ's reconcilers in our divided world, if we put ourselves into it!
Amen.
Nicene Creed
We believe
in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe
in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin
Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius
Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of
the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the
living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the
giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is
worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and
apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the
forgiveness of sins.
We
look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
The Prayers of the People Form V
In peace,
let us pray to the Lord, saying, "Lord, have mercy."
For the holy
Church of God, that it may be filled with truth
and love,
and be found without fault at the day of your
coming, we
pray to you, O Lord.
Here
and after every petition the People respond:
Lord, have
mercy.
For Bishop Everett, for all bishops, priests, deacons, and other ministers,
and for all the holy people of God, we pray to you, O Lord.
For all who
fear God and believe in you, Lord Christ, that our
divisions
may cease, and that all may be one as you and the
Father are
one, we pray to you, O Lord.
For the
mission of the Church, that in faithful witness it may
preach the
Gospel to the ends of the earth, we pray to you, O
Lord.
For those
who do not yet believe, and for those who have lost
their faith,
that they may receive the light of the Gospel, we
pray to you,
O Lord.
For the
peace of the world, that a spirit of respect and
forbearance
may grow among nations and peoples, we pray
to you, O
Lord.
For those in
positions of public trust,
that they
may serve justice, and promote the dignity and
freedom of
every person, we pray to you, O Lord.
For all who
live and work in our communities,
we pray to
you, O Lord.
For a
blessing upon all human labor, and for the right use
of the
riches of creation, that the world may be freed from
poverty, famine,
and disaster, we pray to you, O Lord.
For the
poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer; for
refugees,
prisoners, and all who are in danger; that they may
be relieved
and protected, we pray to you, O Lord.
For this online
congregation [for those who are present, and for
those who
are absent], that we may be delivered from
hardness of
heart, and show forth your glory in all that we
do, we pray
to you, O Lord.
For our
enemies and those who wish us harm, and for all
whom we have
injured or offended, we pray to you, O Lord.
For
ourselves; for the forgiveness of our sins, and for the
grace of the
Holy Spirit to amend our lives, we pray to you, O
Lord.
For all who
have commended themselves to our prayers; for
our families,
friends, and neighbors; that being freed from
anxiety,
they may live in joy, peace, and health, we pray to
you, O Lord.
For all who
have died in the communion of your Church, and
those whose
faith is known to you alone, that, with all the
saints, they
may have rest in that place where there is no pain
or grief,
but life eternal, we pray to you, O Lord.
Rejoicing in
the fellowship of all the saints, let us commend ourselves,
and one
another, and all our life to Christ our God.
To you, O Lord our God.
Silence
For yours is
the majesty, O Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
yours is the
kingdom and the power and the glory, now and
for ever.
Amen.
Confession of Sin
Bishop
Everett:
Let us
confess our sins against God and our neighbor.
Silence
may be kept.
Minister
and People
Most
merciful God,
we confess
that we have sinned against you
in thought,
word, and deed,
by what we
have done,
and by what
we have left undone.
We have not
loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved
our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly
sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake
of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy
on us and forgive us;
that we may
delight in your will,
and walk in
your ways,
to the glory
of your Name. Amen.
Bishop
Everett:
Almighty God
have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins
through our
Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all
goodness,
and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in
eternal life.
Amen.
The Peace
Bishop
Everett: The peace of the Lord be always
with you.
People: And
also with you.
Here
you may greet those present and worshiping
with
you in the name of the Lord.
To
complete your worship service without Holy Communion continue.
To continue your worship with an Online Service of Holy Communion click on the words below.
Bishop Everett:
And now, as
our Savior
Christ has
taught us,
we are bold
to say,
People
and Celebrant
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,
for ever and ever. Amen.
The Bishop
blesses the people.
Bishop
Everett:
The blessing
of Almighty God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
be upon you
and remain with you now and forever.
Amen.
Bishop
Everett:
I rejoice
that we can worship our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ together in our gathering
through this electronic online media. It is
provided as a supplement to your regular worship. I encourage you to attend the church of your choice and to give
your tithes and offerings to your home
Church.
Dismissal
Bishop
Everett: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.
People: Thanks
be to God.
