Photo of the Day

Howdy, pardner... please keep this cowpoke (Scott Canfield) in your prayers as he continues to undergo a difficult cancer treatment this month.

...to become joyful servants like Jesus...

As we approach our 30^th anniversary as a congregation, we take time to focus on our vocation, our calling from God, to be a people formed, nurtured, and sent by God’s word and sacraments, by a great and gracious love that comes to transform our lives...into the fullness of the character of Christ.

Prayer of the Day

God of all peoples, your invitation to life seeks to transform us, through the guidance, coaching, and power of your Spirit, into the living image of your love and life in Jesus.  Open our hearts and minds to say “Yes!” to all you desire for each one of us, through Christ our Lord.

The First Reading:  Leviticus 19:1-18 (New Living Translation)

From the beginning we were made to re-present the image and character of our Creator.  The God who made us will not give up until we reach that goal...by God’s guidance and power.

The LORD also said to Moses, ² “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

³ “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the LORD your God.

⁴ “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the LORD your God. ... 

⁹ “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. ¹⁰ It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the LORD your God.

¹¹ “Do not steal.

“Do not deceive or cheat one another.

¹² “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the LORD.

¹³ “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.

“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.

¹⁴ “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the LORD.

¹⁵ “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.

¹⁶ “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.

“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the LORD.

¹⁷ “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.

¹⁸ “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”

The Second Reading:  Ephesians 4:11-16 (New Living Translation)

Paul sees the church becoming Jesus’ eyes & ears, feet & voice, his hands & heart.  We all have important work to do, equipping and building each other up, encouraging one another to grow into the “full and complete standard of Christ.”  It’s a place of strength, truth, character, and love.

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. ¹³ This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

The Gospel:  John 14:12-13, 25-26; 15:12-17; 17:18-23  (New Revised Standard Version)

John’s “Farewell Discourse” is a collection of thoughts that Jesus leaves with his disciples before going to the cross.  They express the desire of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit about what they are working to help us become.

Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ...

²⁵ "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ...

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. ...

And finally in his prayer to the Father:

¹⁸ As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth. ²⁰ "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³ I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.