Worship Notes for Summer 2024
May 19 Day of Pentecost ~ “Great Gifts” John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Crossing all boundaries
that would separate us, the Spirit brings the wideness of God’s mercy to places we least expect it—to a
crowd of strangers of different lands and tongues, to dry bones, to our weak hearts. Jesus promises his
disciples that they will be accompanied by the Holy Spirit, and that this Spirit reveals the truth. We celebrate
that we too have been visited with this same Spirit. Guided by the truth, we join together in worship, and
then disperse to share the fullness of Christ’s love with the world.
May 26 The Holy Trinity ~ “Understanding the Holy Trinity” John 3:1-17
When we say God is the triune God, we are saying something about who God is beyond, before, and after
the universe: that there is community within God. Our experience of this is reflected in Paul’s words today.
When we pray to God as Jesus prayed to his Abba (an everyday, intimate parental address), the Spirit prays
within us, creating between us and God the same relationship Jesus has with the one who sent him.
June 2 2nd Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Living in the Sabbath” Mark 2:23-3:6
Deuteronomy makes clear that sabbath-keeping is meant for the welfare of all. God delivered the Israelites
out of slavery, so they should observe this freedom with a day of rest. No one should work seven days a
week; even slaves and foreigners should be able to rest. Yet human beings can turn even the most liberating
religious practice into a life-destroying rule. Jesus does not reject sabbath-keeping, but defends its original
life-enhancing meaning. Our worship and our religious way of life are to lead to restoration: the hungry
being fed and the sick being healed.
June 9 3rd Sunday after Pentecost ~ Welcome the Rev. Russ Adams Mark 3:20-35
A house divided against itself cannot stand. Jesus makes this observation in light of charges that he is
possessed. He is possessed, not by a demon, but by the Holy Spirit. We who have received the Holy Spirit
through baptism have been joined to Christ’s death and resurrection and knit together in the body of Christ.
Those with whom we sing and pray this day are Jesus’ family. With them we go forth in peace to do the will
of God.
June 16 4th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Welcome the Rev. Russ Adams Mark 4:26-34
The mustard seed becomes a great shrub that shelters the birds, recalling ancient images of the tree of life.
We’d expect a cedar or a sequoia, but Jesus finds the power of God better imaged in a tiny, no-account seed.
It’s not the way we expect divine activity to look. Yet the tree of life is here, in the cross around which we
gather, the tree into which we are grafted through baptism, the true vine that nourishes us with its fruit in the
cup we share. It may not appear all that impressive, but while nobody’s looking it grows with a power
beyond our understanding.
June 23 5th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “With Christ in the School of Prayer” Mark 4:35-41
Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation! Now we are in the storm, the boat almost swamped;
but Jesus is here now, and when we call him, he will calm the storm. Even the wind and waves listen to him
as they would to their creator. We also listen to him and are called to believe in the power of God’s word in
him, a power greater than all that we fear.
June 30 6th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 5:21-43
A woman finds healing by touching Jesus’ cloak, and a girl is restored to life when he takes her by the hand.
In both cases a boundary is crossed: in Jesus’ time the hemorrhaging woman was considered ritually
unclean, polluting others by her touch, and anyone who touched a corpse also became unclean. In Mark’s
gospel Jesus breaks down barriers, from his first meal at a tax collector’s house to his last breath on the
cross as the temple curtain is torn in two. We dare to touch Jesus in our “uncleanness” and to live as a
community that defines no one as an outsider.
July 7 7th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 6:1-13
Jesus does great deeds of power and gives his disciples authority over demons. Yet none of this power is
unilateral; it all must be received by faith. Jesus asks his disciples to go out without money or supplies, so
that they will be dependent on how others receive them. When we are sent from the assembly to witness and
to heal, we are asked to be vulnerable, to be dependent on the reception of others. The Spirit always operates
in the “between”: between Jesus and his Abba, between Jesus and us, between you and me, between us and
those to whom we are sent.
July 14 8th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 6:14-29
When Amos reports his vision of God judging Israel for its mistreatment of the poor, he becomes a threat to
the power of the priests and the king. John the Baptist also speaks truth to power, and Herod has him killed.
In Herod’s fear that Jesus is John returned from the dead, we may hear hope for the oppressed: all the
prophets killed through the ages are alive in Jesus. We are called to witness to justice in company with
them, and to proclaim God’s saving love.
July 21 9th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Mark’s gospel makes clear how great is the press of the crowd, with its countless needs to be met, on Jesus
and his disciples. Yet in today’s gospel Jesus advises his disciples to get away and rest, to take care of
themselves. Sometimes we think that when others are in great need we shouldn’t think of ourselves at all;
but Jesus also honors the caregivers’ need. We are sent from Christ’s table to care for others and for
ourselves.
July 28 10th Sunday after Pentecost ~ John 6:1-21
Today is the first of five Sundays with gospel readings from John 6, the first four of which focus on Jesus as
bread of life. Today Jesus feeds thousands of people with five loaves and two fish. What we have, what we
bring to Jesus’ table, seems like it is not nearly enough to meet all the needs we see around us. But it is not
the adequacy of our supplies or our skills that finally makes the difference: it is the power of Jesus working
in the littlest and least to transform this world into the world God desires, a world where all the hungry are
satisfied.
August 4 11th Sunday after Pentecost ~ John 6:24-35
Apparently not satisfied by Jesus’ feeding of thousands, some who were there press him for a sign of his
power; perhaps it is daily manna they want. As always in John’s gospel when people want a sign, Jesus
offers himself. He is the bread come from heaven to give life to the world. He calls us to come to him and
believe in him, and through that relationship to know the one who sent him.
August 11 12th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Living Bread, Divine Nourishment” John 6:35, 41-51
Jesus says that the bread he gives for the life of the world is his flesh, and whoever eats this bread has
eternal life now and will be raised on the last day. In Ephesians Paul tells us what this life Jesus gives us
looks like, this life we live as those marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit in baptism. We live in love, as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The whole purpose of life is giving yourself for the other.
August 18 13th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Feasting on Divine Wisdom” John 6:51-58
Wisdom prepares a feast, sets her table, and invites all to come and eat her bread and drink her wine. The
first chapter of John’s gospel owes much to the biblical tradition that imagined Wisdom as existing before
anything was created and having a role in the work of creation. Christ, the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24),
today invites us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. John’s gospel includes no account of the institution of
the Lord’s supper, but here we can't help hearing Jesus’ words as an invitation to the meal of bread and wine
we share.
August 25 14th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Choosing Faith” John 6:56-69
In today’s gospel many people take offense at Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood; even
many of Jesus’ disciples peel off. This is the backdrop in John’s gospel for Peter’s confession of faith. “To
whom can we go?” asks Peter, in words we sometimes sing just before the gospel is read. “You have the
words of eternal life.” In order to take such a stand, as Peter and Joshua did, Paul tells us to arm ourselves
with the word of God. We pray in the Spirit that we might be bold ambassadors of the gospel.
September 1 15th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “True Worship and Authentic Faith” Mark 7:1-23
Jesus protests against human customs being given the weight of divine law, while the essence of God’s law
is ignored. True uncleanness comes not from external things, but from the intentions of the human heart.
Last week Jesus told us “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Now James
says God has given us birth by the word of truth. We who were washed in the word when we were born in
the font return to it every Sunday to ask God to create in us clean hearts.
May 19 Day of Pentecost ~ “Great Gifts” John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Crossing all boundaries
that would separate us, the Spirit brings the wideness of God’s mercy to places we least expect it—to a
crowd of strangers of different lands and tongues, to dry bones, to our weak hearts. Jesus promises his
disciples that they will be accompanied by the Holy Spirit, and that this Spirit reveals the truth. We celebrate
that we too have been visited with this same Spirit. Guided by the truth, we join together in worship, and
then disperse to share the fullness of Christ’s love with the world.
May 26 The Holy Trinity ~ “Understanding the Holy Trinity” John 3:1-17
When we say God is the triune God, we are saying something about who God is beyond, before, and after
the universe: that there is community within God. Our experience of this is reflected in Paul’s words today.
When we pray to God as Jesus prayed to his Abba (an everyday, intimate parental address), the Spirit prays
within us, creating between us and God the same relationship Jesus has with the one who sent him.
June 2 2nd Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Living in the Sabbath” Mark 2:23-3:6
Deuteronomy makes clear that sabbath-keeping is meant for the welfare of all. God delivered the Israelites
out of slavery, so they should observe this freedom with a day of rest. No one should work seven days a
week; even slaves and foreigners should be able to rest. Yet human beings can turn even the most liberating
religious practice into a life-destroying rule. Jesus does not reject sabbath-keeping, but defends its original
life-enhancing meaning. Our worship and our religious way of life are to lead to restoration: the hungry
being fed and the sick being healed.
June 9 3rd Sunday after Pentecost ~ Welcome the Rev. Russ Adams Mark 3:20-35
A house divided against itself cannot stand. Jesus makes this observation in light of charges that he is
possessed. He is possessed, not by a demon, but by the Holy Spirit. We who have received the Holy Spirit
through baptism have been joined to Christ’s death and resurrection and knit together in the body of Christ.
Those with whom we sing and pray this day are Jesus’ family. With them we go forth in peace to do the will
of God.
June 16 4th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Welcome the Rev. Russ Adams Mark 4:26-34
The mustard seed becomes a great shrub that shelters the birds, recalling ancient images of the tree of life.
We’d expect a cedar or a sequoia, but Jesus finds the power of God better imaged in a tiny, no-account seed.
It’s not the way we expect divine activity to look. Yet the tree of life is here, in the cross around which we
gather, the tree into which we are grafted through baptism, the true vine that nourishes us with its fruit in the
cup we share. It may not appear all that impressive, but while nobody’s looking it grows with a power
beyond our understanding.
June 23 5th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “With Christ in the School of Prayer” Mark 4:35-41
Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation! Now we are in the storm, the boat almost swamped;
but Jesus is here now, and when we call him, he will calm the storm. Even the wind and waves listen to him
as they would to their creator. We also listen to him and are called to believe in the power of God’s word in
him, a power greater than all that we fear.
June 30 6th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 5:21-43
A woman finds healing by touching Jesus’ cloak, and a girl is restored to life when he takes her by the hand.
In both cases a boundary is crossed: in Jesus’ time the hemorrhaging woman was considered ritually
unclean, polluting others by her touch, and anyone who touched a corpse also became unclean. In Mark’s
gospel Jesus breaks down barriers, from his first meal at a tax collector’s house to his last breath on the
cross as the temple curtain is torn in two. We dare to touch Jesus in our “uncleanness” and to live as a
community that defines no one as an outsider.
July 7 7th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 6:1-13
Jesus does great deeds of power and gives his disciples authority over demons. Yet none of this power is
unilateral; it all must be received by faith. Jesus asks his disciples to go out without money or supplies, so
that they will be dependent on how others receive them. When we are sent from the assembly to witness and
to heal, we are asked to be vulnerable, to be dependent on the reception of others. The Spirit always operates
in the “between”: between Jesus and his Abba, between Jesus and us, between you and me, between us and
those to whom we are sent.
July 14 8th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 6:14-29
When Amos reports his vision of God judging Israel for its mistreatment of the poor, he becomes a threat to
the power of the priests and the king. John the Baptist also speaks truth to power, and Herod has him killed.
In Herod’s fear that Jesus is John returned from the dead, we may hear hope for the oppressed: all the
prophets killed through the ages are alive in Jesus. We are called to witness to justice in company with
them, and to proclaim God’s saving love.
July 21 9th Sunday after Pentecost ~ Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
Mark’s gospel makes clear how great is the press of the crowd, with its countless needs to be met, on Jesus
and his disciples. Yet in today’s gospel Jesus advises his disciples to get away and rest, to take care of
themselves. Sometimes we think that when others are in great need we shouldn’t think of ourselves at all;
but Jesus also honors the caregivers’ need. We are sent from Christ’s table to care for others and for
ourselves.
July 28 10th Sunday after Pentecost ~ John 6:1-21
Today is the first of five Sundays with gospel readings from John 6, the first four of which focus on Jesus as
bread of life. Today Jesus feeds thousands of people with five loaves and two fish. What we have, what we
bring to Jesus’ table, seems like it is not nearly enough to meet all the needs we see around us. But it is not
the adequacy of our supplies or our skills that finally makes the difference: it is the power of Jesus working
in the littlest and least to transform this world into the world God desires, a world where all the hungry are
satisfied.
August 4 11th Sunday after Pentecost ~ John 6:24-35
Apparently not satisfied by Jesus’ feeding of thousands, some who were there press him for a sign of his
power; perhaps it is daily manna they want. As always in John’s gospel when people want a sign, Jesus
offers himself. He is the bread come from heaven to give life to the world. He calls us to come to him and
believe in him, and through that relationship to know the one who sent him.
August 11 12th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Living Bread, Divine Nourishment” John 6:35, 41-51
Jesus says that the bread he gives for the life of the world is his flesh, and whoever eats this bread has
eternal life now and will be raised on the last day. In Ephesians Paul tells us what this life Jesus gives us
looks like, this life we live as those marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit in baptism. We live in love, as
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The whole purpose of life is giving yourself for the other.
August 18 13th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Feasting on Divine Wisdom” John 6:51-58
Wisdom prepares a feast, sets her table, and invites all to come and eat her bread and drink her wine. The
first chapter of John’s gospel owes much to the biblical tradition that imagined Wisdom as existing before
anything was created and having a role in the work of creation. Christ, the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24),
today invites us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. John’s gospel includes no account of the institution of
the Lord’s supper, but here we can't help hearing Jesus’ words as an invitation to the meal of bread and wine
we share.
August 25 14th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “Choosing Faith” John 6:56-69
In today’s gospel many people take offense at Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood; even
many of Jesus’ disciples peel off. This is the backdrop in John’s gospel for Peter’s confession of faith. “To
whom can we go?” asks Peter, in words we sometimes sing just before the gospel is read. “You have the
words of eternal life.” In order to take such a stand, as Peter and Joshua did, Paul tells us to arm ourselves
with the word of God. We pray in the Spirit that we might be bold ambassadors of the gospel.
September 1 15th Sunday after Pentecost ~ “True Worship and Authentic Faith” Mark 7:1-23
Jesus protests against human customs being given the weight of divine law, while the essence of God’s law
is ignored. True uncleanness comes not from external things, but from the intentions of the human heart.
Last week Jesus told us “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Now James
says God has given us birth by the word of truth. We who were washed in the word when we were born in
the font return to it every Sunday to ask God to create in us clean hearts.