Giving Your All
Service of Worship
Eastern Parkway United Methodist Church
November 7, 2021
Rev. Natalie Bowerman, Pastor
Prelude
Greeting and
Announcements
Mission Statement:
We are a faith community striving to be, to nurture, and to send forth
disciples of Jesus Christ.
Call to Worship
Come and worship
the one who wants your all.
We come to worship
the one who offers all.
Come and worship
with all your heart and soul and mind and strength.
We come and offer
all that we have and all that we are in worship and in service.
Come and be blessed
and you pour yourself out in worship.
We will worship
wholeheartedly and with joy.
Hymn
711: For All the Saints
Prayer of Confession:
Divine Provider, we
confess that we sometimes doubt your provision for us. When we start scraping
the bottom of the barrel, we cut back our sharing with others who have already
run out and are hungry or in need. Forgive selfishness and independence that
prevents interdependence and working together to solve distribution problems in
the use of the resources of your good earth, through your compassionate Son,
Jesus Christ. Amen.
Assurance
Pastor: Friends,
hear the good news! Christ has entered into heaven.
People: Christ now appears in the presence of God on our behalf.
Pastor: Friends, believe the good news!
People: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.
Anthem
Mark 12: 38-44
Jesus Denounces the
Scribes
38 As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around
in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and
to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 40 They
devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They
will receive the greater condemnation.”
The Widow’s
Offering
41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money
into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A
poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a
penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them,
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are
contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have
contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in
everything she had, all she had to live on.”
A Message
“Giving Your All”
Friends, for the
second week in a row, today we have another special Sunday: All Saints Day. On
this day we give thanks for our loved ones who have gone on to life eternal,
finding comfort in knowing that they dwell in a heaven promised to all of us,
and that we’ll never be separated from them because, whether we live on earth
or in heaven, we’re all connected through Jesus.
It’s an emotional
day. It’s a day when we light candles of remembrance, as we will later in this
service, for our friends who passed away in the last year: Carol and Bruce. It’s
a day when we remember, year after year, our loved ones who are waiting for us
on the other side.
It’s a hard idea to
wrap your mind around, that there’s an eternal life awaiting us after this
temporary one. We haven’t seen it. We don’t know anything about it. We may have
some ideas, but how do we know our loved ones are really in heaven, and not
lost to the emptiness of grief?
Part of it is
immense trust in the Divine.
And part of that is
our immense connection to the person themselves. I obviously have many, many
words to say about the wonders of our Savior, who prepares a way for us, who
takes us to our Father’s House where there are many rooms, who defeated
suffering and death and rose that we all may rise. But, there’s something
special, beyond the promises of our faith, about the nature of the human
spirit. The greatest people we have ever known can never leave us, not even in
death, because they gave their absolute all in life, and we will see their
legacy, feel their smile, and hear their laugh forever.
We all know someone
like that.
To illuminate this
point for all of you, I did an extensive online search through obituaries this
week. I discovered while reading many that it is actually not uncommon for a
person to pen their own obituary and then leave it for their family to publish
after they die; they know their family will have a lot on their minds and
hearts after they pass and they want to save them some work. They also want to
think of their loved ones smiling instead of crying.
I found one such
obit that I needed to share with you. One authored by a real person; a
terminally ill woman living in a nursing home in Indiana, who passed away in 2018.
Her name was Jan. And she wanted the world to remember her like this:
Jan Lois Lynch of
Evansville, Indiana and native of Boston Massachusetts passed away on October
18, 2018. Her sudden and untimely death came as quite a shock as she was only
diagnosed with advanced COPD, advanced emphysema, advanced heart disease,
cystic fibrosis, chronic bronchitis, stroke, extreme stubbornness, restless leg
syndrome, and arm chair quarterback.
Jan is survived by her four loving sons, Jeff (Missy) Patterson, Greg (Billie)
Patterson, Jake (Emily) Lomax, and Luke (Mabel) Lomax and eight grandchildren
whom she loved more than anything else in the world…except the New England
Patriots, the Boston Red Sox, Tom Brady, cold Budweiser, room temperature
Budweiser, cigarettes, dogs, mopeds, clam chowder, boating, fishing, Florida,
the Atlantic Ocean, grouper sandwiches, adventures, road trips, the beach,
Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, fall foliage, airplane food,
ingrown toenails, the OJ chase, and the OJ trial – in that exact order.
Jan graduated from the University of Evansville with a degree in English
Literature achieving magna cum laude honors, while working 2-3 jobs and raising
her four sons – one of whom turned out OK. It's still unclear who her favorite
son was, thus the final ruling must be litigated in family court…or at a bar.
Jan will be missed dearly by all who knew her. She was an incredible woman. She
had an unparalleled zest for life and an infectious laugh that thankfully was
passed down to her sons and their children. From standing on a bridge in the
middle of a hurricane, to jumping off the highest cliffs at Rough River, to
dangling her feet over a 5,000 foot cliff at the edge of the Grand Canyon so
she could "see what it felt like to feel that fear", she taught us
that all the really good things in life are beyond the "Do Not Enter"
signs. She always put her children first – her selflessness was beyond
reproach. She will live on in our hearts, minds, thoughts, prayers, and laughs
forever.
Following her wishes, there will not be a funeral service. However, well-wishers
are encouraged to write a note of farewell on a Budweiser can and drink it in
her honor. And remember to live life to the fullest and laugh, laugh, and then
laugh some more.
The family would like to express a special and sincere thanks to Teresa, Dana, and
Ashley with Deaconess VNA Home Care and Hospice for their passion, dedication,
and patience.[1]
Truly, Jan was
someone who won’t be forgotten. Her life ended perhaps sooner than she wanted
it to, but while she was on this earth, she used every day to fill the world
with joy, and she gave her all. Without being rich, famous, or particularly
impressive in any way, you can tell just by hearing that that she left the
people around her better off. This is an example we can live by: joy,
playfulness, sacrifice, and love.
While we continue
to ruminate on these notions of a life well lived, and a soul not soon
forgotten, our lectionary lifts up a well-known passage from the Gospel of Mark,
one that is very appropriate not only for All Saints Sunday, but for this
season when we’re getting ready to commit our pledges to our church for the
2022 calendar year.
At this point in
the narrative, Jesus and his disciples have made their way to Jerusalem. Even
though his disciples don’t understand, Jesus knows that this is the last week
of his earthly life, and he has just a few days left to impart all the wisdom
he can on his disciples before they have to face the trauma of Good Friday
without him. A prime place for wisdom is the Temple. This is also the time of
the Passover Festival, which means that a huge diversity of people have flocked
to Jerusalem, and the best place on earth to sit and people-watch is just
inside the doors of the Temple, where Jewish people from all over the world are
presenting their gifts. Jesus takes the disciples there and tells them to just
sit and watch.
Sometimes, like
when Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, the lesson comes from lots of words.
But today wasn’t that kind of day. Today the lesson came from just a series of
images.
Jesus, while
approaching the Temple with his disciples warned them in advance: watch out for
the scribes. They dress impressively, they’re big talkers, and they go out of
their way to look really important. If you have to go so far out of your way to
make an impression on those around you, chances are there’s not much to see
there beyond the surface. Look deeper. The person you should be learning from
today isn’t going to look like a big shot.
The top 1% parade
past the Temple coffer making sure that everyone around them can see all the
zeroes on the checks they drop in. The image is clear: a well-groomed,
well-dressed, billionaire dropping what they can spare since their company
doesn’t pay taxes. They have so much to give because they hoarded it. This is
hardly charity, it’s more like giving back a small part of what they stole from
the poor. Let them keep walking, says Jesus. They got to show off, they’ll get
their fifteen minutes in the spotlight. That’s its own reward. They haven’t
made any room in their life for Jesus, so he can’t do anything for them right
now.
There’s no
anonymity in this presentation of offerings. It’s not like what we’re used to,
where the plate goes past every person sitting in the pews, and a lot of the
gifts are in envelopes and only the counters after the service know who put in
what.
This is very
public, and everyone presenting a gift is purposefully one-upping the person
that went before them. If you can’t give at this level, don’t even bother. It
would be a disgrace to you and your family.
In her
extraordinary bravery, one widow comes forward, providing an alternate image
for the disciples. Dressed in what little she can afford, a non-citizen with no
man to represent her, it’s a shame for her to be out in public at all, much
less at the Temple during Passover, offering a gift alongside Elon Musk and
Bill Gates. She’ll be laughed out of the Temple, but she doesn’t care. She
gives up all the money she has, which is very little because women in her day
weren’t allowed to work, own land, or have their own wealth. After she puts
these two coins in the basket, she’s literally penniless.
Pay attention, says
Jesus. We’re not supposed to be looking at her. But she gave her all. And not
only that, but she stood up to the unjust laws that are meant to keep her down.
She’s rebellious, and fearless. She is a saint.
Our society rarely
honors people like that poor widow in the Temple. But she sets an example for
the kind of life we ought to live: selfless when she’s expected to clutch onto
what little she has; confident when she’s expected to live in shame; and joyous
in the Lord when her Temple and town treat her like a non-person, because she
knows better.
May we know people
like her. May we become people like her.
If someone had
helped the poor widow write a playful obituary like Jan’s from before, then
maybe it sounded a little like this:
April 1, 30 CE,
Jerusalem:
Today the poorest
broad that Jesus ever met rolled her eyes a little too hard at the patriarchy
and died. No one wrote down her name, so invent one for her in your head, and
make it something fierce, like her. She is predeceased by her husband, an
unnamed poor guy; her siblings, and her parents, whoever they were. She spent
the last years of her life sticking it to the Man, and she is best known for
breaking all the rules to support a faith that will know justice.
May we go forth and
do likewise.
Amen.
Hymn 707: Hymn of
Promise
Offering, doxology,
and prayer of dedication
Lighting of
Memorial Candles, Pastoral Prayer, and Lord’s Prayer
Almighty and
merciful God, our souls thirst for you both day and night. You are the author
of our salvation, and you give us everything we need for fruitful living. Now
we come into this house of thanksgiving to offer praise to your holy Name and
to sing our songs of thanksgiving.
By the grace of
baptism, you have adopted us as your children. You have made us heirs to
eternal life and incorporated us into your family which we call the Church. But
we become a forgetful people and do not honor you. We take great delight in
showing off our works of mercy to gain the approval of others and forget that our
privilege is to do works in your Name and for your glory alone. Forgive our
selfish ways and make our works live.
We know the good
news of how Christ offered himself to bear the sins of the world, and you have
entrusted us with the mission to spread the word throughout the world. Send us
out in the power of your Holy Spirit to accomplish our task with joy to the end
that all may come to worship you.
We lift up before
you those whose bread is comprised of tears because of their suffering. We know
of people who feel their souls cast down for want of peace in their hearts and
minds. Some are poured out from the hard work of dying. Speak your gracious
word of comfort and grant them release.
Answer us, O
merciful God, for our prayers are joined with the One who stands before you in
heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.[2]
Our Father, Mother,
Creator God, 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 have trespassed against
us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the
Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory forever. Amen.
The Lord’s Supper
The
Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts. .
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is
right, and a good and joyful thing,
always and everywhere to give thanks to you,
Father Almighty (almighty God), creator of heaven and earth.
You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life.
When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast.
You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God,
and spoke to us through your prophets, who looked for that day
when justice shall roll down like waters
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream,
when nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
And so,
with your people on earth and all the company of heaven
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy,
holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Holy
are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection
you gave birth to your Church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit.
At his ascension you exalted him
to sit and reign with you at your right hand.
On the
night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread,
gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
When
the supper was over he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
And so,
in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ
has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Pour
out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
By your
Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through
your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father (God), now and for ever.
Amen.
Hymn 712: I Sing a
Song of the Saints of God
Benediction
Our God, our
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, will guard our going out and coming in from this
time on and forevermore. And as all God’s people we say together, Amen.
Postlude
All scripture comes
from the New Revised Standard Version
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