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[Music] precious lord [Music] [Music] weak through the storm through the night leave me take my hand precious [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] take my hand please take my hand press us alone and leave [Music] [Music] great jesus is my [Music] [Applause] jesus do you lord let it be i am weak but thou art strong keep me from [Music] being [Music] just a closer walk with this [Music] [Applause] jesus [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] thy kingdom kingdom sure to thy shore just a closer walk with me [Music] [Applause] jesus dear lord and let it be let it be dear lord let it be dear lord let it [Music] let it be as i went down in the river to pray studying about that good old way and who shall wear the starry crown good lord show me the way oh sisters let's go down let's go down come on down oh sisters let's go down down in the river to pray as i went down in the river to pray studying about that good old way and who shall wear the robin crown good lord show me the way oh brothers let's go down let's go down come on down come on brothers let's go down down in the river to pray as i went down in the river to pray studying about that good old way [Music] come [Music] as i went down in the river to pray [Music] oh mothers let's go down come on down don't you wanna go down come on mothers let's go down down in the river to pray as i went down in the river to pray studying about that good old way and who shall wear the starry crown good lord show me the way oh sinners let's go down let's go down come on down oh singers let's go down down in the river to pray as i went down in the river to pray studying about that good old way and who shall wear the robin crown good lord show me the way my soul cries out with a joyful shock and the god of my heart is great and my spirits think of the wondrous things that you bring to the one shall my name be blessed could the world be about to turn [Music] let the fires of your justice burn wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near and the world is about to turn [Music] though i am small my god my all you've worked great things in me and your mercy will last from the depths of the past to the end of the age to be your very name to shame and for those who are for you yearn you will show your might with the strong [Music] from the halls of power to the fortress tower on the stone will be left on stone let the king be wherefore your justice tears every tyrant from his throne the hungry poor shall reap no more for the food they can [Music] tables never every mouth be fed for the world is about to turn my heart shall sing of the day in the rain let the fires of your justice burn wipe away all tears here and the world is about to turn through the nation's rage from the rage to wage we remember who holds us fast god's mercy must deliver us [Music] can be crushed by god who is turning the world around my heart shall sing of the day it'll bring let the fires of the justice burn wipe away all tears for the dawn draws here and the world is about to turn [Music] and the world is about to turn [Music] [Music] this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it well good morning and welcome to worship we are so glad that you are here and especially if you are a guest or visitor with us we would love to know that you are here and we invite you to fill out a visitor information form that is linked in the description right below this video now we do gather on sundays as part of a sabbath that we keep in our tradition this time set aside for praise for worship for rest and renewal and this opportunity for us is something that we're going to talk about a bit more in our sermon today as we hear from jesus in the gospel of luke changing the rules about sabbath just a little bit but as we do enter worship i invite you to think about what is in your way of entering into this time of worship what are the the to-do lists what are the voices what is the anything that you are carrying and if you want get a piece of paper and just write those down everything anything that's distracting you from entering in to this time of reflection and prayer and turning to god with love and knowing that god is present with us whatever that is i want you to put it aside and know that it will be there again for you when we are through and god will be there to help you with that as well but join me as we enter into worship with our gathering hymn [Music] [Music] we [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] your [Music] [Applause] [Music] blessed be the holy trinity one god whose voice is upon the waters whose mercy is poured out upon all people whose goodness cascades over all creation amen let us confess our sin trusting in the abundant grace of god let us pray together holy god you search us and know us you are acquainted with all our ways we confess that our hearts are burdened by sin our own sins and the broken systems that bind us we turn inward failing to follow your outward way of love we distrust those who are not like us we exploit the earth and its resources and fail to consider generations to come forgive us gracious god for all we have done and left undone even before the words are on our tongues you know them receive them in your divine mercy amen how vast is god's grace through the power and promise of christ jesus our sins are washed away and we are claimed as god's own beloved indeed we are forgiven in the wake of god's forgiveness we are called to be the beloved community living out christ's justice and the spirit's reconciling peace amen and let us pray our prayer of the day together lord of the sabbath your followers were told not to work on the sabbath and yet they boldly plucked grain to show that you are lord of all the world tells us not to rest on the sabbath show us how to rest boldly rejecting conventions that go against your will and instead praying and resting as you did up on the mountain for the glory of your word and work lord jesus christ amen what character in the bible was a locksmith zacchaeus i'd like to invite our children to gather round for this morning's children's chat thank you to laurie mcdonald for bringing us these words today good morning all in to today's gospel reading we hear that jesus after he had taken some time out to pray called all of his followers together and out of all of them he chose twelve to be the apostles now let's think about this jesus had lots of followers also sometimes called disciples the word disciple means a person who is a student or someone who follows the teachings of someone else now jesus had many followers think about some of the stories we have heard from the bible doesn't jesus feed all of his followers lunch one day and it says there were well over five thousand people who sat down and came to hear him speak that day or how about in matthew chapter 13 when it says that so many people gathered around jesus to hear him teach that he had to get into a boat and row out onto the lake so that people could see him and hear him jesus had a lot of followers both men and women it was from all of those followers or disciples that he chose the he brought closest to him and you know who they are see if you can say their names with me peter andrew james john philip bartholomew matthew thomas james the son of alphaeus to that that's to make sure we know who he is other than the other james simon the zealot a zealot is someone who's a little fanatic about something or someone judas the son of a another man named james and judas iscariot now what was so special about these 12 people that jesus chose them to be closest to him let's look at a few of them matthew was a tax collector now most people at that time didn't like did not like tax collectors first of all tax collectors worked for the roman government and the people of israel did not like the roman government second tax collectors usually demanded more money from the people than they actually owed and then they kept that extra money for themselves so most tax collectors were dishonest does that sound like someone that you would want on your team take peter and andrew they were fishermen who worked in a business with their father they weren't rulers or really important or famous people so why would jesus pick them to be in his inner circle his closest friends jesus saw something in each one of these people he knew each one of them had qualities that would make them just the people he needed to he needed to spread the good news about god's kingdom these were not just disciples eager to learn more about jesus's teaching but they were also apostles called to go out and spread the good news about the kingdom of god in both word what they said and indeed the things that they did we are also called in our everyday lives to be both disciples and apostles to be disciples of jesus to learn about him and his teachings and to be apostles to spread the word the good news of jesus and his teachings by what we say and by what we do now i wonder what might each of us do in this next week as disciples and apostles of jesus let's pray dear god thank you for sending jesus to teach us about your love for us and how we can spread that love and create more love in the world and maybe even bring the kingdom of god to this world that we live in we love you and we thank you for your love for us in jesus name we pray amen [Music] i [Music] [Music] a reading of the holy gospel according to luke the sixth chapter glory to you oh lord one sabbath while jesus was going through the grind fields his disciples plucked some heads of brain rubbed them in their hands and ate them but some of the pharisees said why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath jesus answered have you not read what david did when he and his companions were hungry he entered the house of god and took and ate the bread of the presence which it is not lawful for any but priests to eat and gave some to his companions then he said to them the son of man is lord of the sabbath on another sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught and there was a man there whose right hand was withered the scribes and the pharisees watched jesus to see whether he would cure on the sabbath so that they might find an accusation against him even though he knew what they were thinking he said to the man who had the withered hand come and stand here he got up and stood there then jesus said to them i ask you is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath to save life or to destroy it after looking around at all of them he said to the man stretch out your hand and the man did so and his hand was restored but they were filled with fury and disgust with one another what they might do to jesus now during those days jesus went out to the mountain to pray and he spent the night in prayer to god and when day came he called on his disciples and chose 12 of them whom he also named apostles simon who he named peter and his brother andrew and james and john and philip and bartholomew and matthew and thomas and james son of alphaeus and simon who was called the zelia and judas son of james and judas iscariot who would become a traitor this is the gospel of the lord praise to you o christ a story so a very poor holy man lived in a remote part of china and every day before his time of meditation in order to show his devotion he put a dish of butter up on the windowsill as an offering to god as food was so scarce now one day his cat came in and ate the butter so to remedy this he began tying the cat to the bedpost each day before his quiet time now this man was so revered for his piety that others joined him as disciples and worshipped just like he did and generations passed and long after the holy man had died his followers continued to place an offering of butter on the windowsill during their times of prayer and meditation and furthermore each one bought a cat and tied it to the bedpost now adhering such a tale we laugh at the seeming absurdity that tying up a cat became a part of what really was a humble act of offering and devotion or similarly we hear the story of how in 1903 the russian czar noticed that a century was posted for no apparent reason on the kremlin grounds upon inquiry he discovered that in 1776 catherine the great found in that exact spot the first flower of spring post a century here she commanded so that no one tramples that flower under foot when we shake our heads at the wasted energy for over a century after that one flower had long withered we think about it some traditions are easy to critique laugh at and easy to consider them a waste of time and energy so too when we hear that the religious leaders in today's gospel reading get angry at jesus's disciples for plucking grain and eating it on the sabbath we think what's the big deal i mean jesus himself points out that david had gone once into the house of god and took the bread of the presence of all things and ate it with his hungry companions when we are set up to disagree with the religious leaders in today's reading for those of us who have been in the church for a long time right we have heard time and again how angry the pharisees and the sadducees were about jesus's ministry he broke the rules he challenged authority and yet so many people were following him but really isn't there a good purpose to habits and traditions and faithful practices let's consider these religious leaders consider the law that they were following and that they were empowered to teach that was their job their role so we start with the ten commandments where we hear god's command to keep the sabbath day holy i mean we know yes a day of rest and also for us maybe a sign between god and the people that god has made us holy but for the jewish leaders it was even more you just listen to what it says from the 31st chapter of exodus 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 the sabbath shall be cut off from among the people 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 therefore the israelites shall keep the sabbath observing the sabbath through their generations as a perpetual covenant i mean for them this is not some trifle practice it's a covenant that bears the weight of life itself when i think about jesus's ministry i don't want to forget that he said he didn't come to abolish this law but to fulfill it i mean to me jesus wasn't intending to on the law of the covenant but instead to broaden the understanding of it and first he points out that the sabbath was made for humankind not humankind for the sabbath now mark's gospel is much clearer with the language of this but the intention of the sabbath is for our rest and our renewal and that follows the model of god self god took time for rest after completing the work of creation so too we are designed to take time for rest as a part of the pattern of our lives let's not miss the fact that jesus himself regularly takes time to go away to rest and to spend significant time in prayer to god but of course jesus also reminds the people that doing the work of good doing the work of healing whenever it comes before us is lawful even if it happens on the sabbath so it seems to me what's so disheartening about these religious leaders is that they are so upset again filled with fury as we heard similarly about the people of nazareth a few weeks ago they're so filled with this rage that they can't see past the specific rules and the threat to their positions of power as teachers that they end up plotting against jesus they can't possibly understand what jesus was teaching because they feel so threatened by him it reminds me of the church of not too long ago where women were not allowed to be leaders much less pastors and many traditions still today do not accept me as an ordained minister in the church we also know that many traditions still teach that gender fluidity and queer sexuality is wrong or sinful and unwelcome not too long ago i myself was reprimanded by other church leaders for encouraging people to expand their thoughts about god and use feminine language the truth is i get it there are traditional teachings that become foundational for people and when those are challenged you know what people get scared and angry it can be scary to think that god is not who we have always thought god to be and when foundations shake faith is tested and it's uncomfortable so what then should we do for me it's about renewing and expanding our understanding of god's kingdom this kingdom is a place that is marked by love and healing and peace and justice for all people it is a place that is about life and it is a place that is here and now but two living in this kingdom is not about abandoning traditions jesus himself was not proposing that i mean we know that rules like the ten commandments are important they guide us to healthy living and healthy relationships they hold us accountable when our sinfulness pulls us astray and you know they also connect us to god and to others who share our common faith but at the same time we have to check our legalism and we have to do the work of reading ourselves of those practices and traditions that actually end up limiting the life-giving purpose of god's kingdom you know there's a story out there about when the western united states was being settled years and years ago and the roads were you know often just wagon tracks these trails after being driven on so much well they created ruts really deep ruts and eventually the rough trails actually posed serious problems for those wagons who journeyed on them so there was a sign put up on one of these winding paths that um that read avoid this rut or you'll be in it for the next 25 miles it's a great reminder that we can get caught in the traditions that keep us from getting where we are meant to go but it's about balance so as we seek to be an inclusive congregation as we continue to recognize our part and continue the work of anti-racism as we walk through this time of political division and social reckoning let's pray let's pray that we can all let go of the fury that differences can stir within us let's pray that we can let go of the fear that incites us and let's pray that we can embrace the necessary discomfort of change but two let's pray that we can hold fast to the traditions of our faith that root us in scripture that draw us together into community that inspire us to praise the god of life and justice and that give us strength to follow jesus that is my prayer thanks be to god amen lord is [Music] [Music] perfect [Music] consecrated to [Music] still [Music] still in grief [Music] to our world [Music] grant us vision his height and depth and greatness upon our quick sight making known again [Music] you're about [Music] the [Music] [Music] may your mercy rejoicing in the sabbath day when we praise and make music to our god on high we bring before the lord our intercession for our congregation our city and nation and for people in need all over the world father in heaven as you called and discipled andrew and the other apostles be with the staff and ministers of saint andrew lutheran church in vancouver washington be with all who preach teach and minister in your name that our work may glorify god and encourage the saints lord in your mercy hear our prayer lord jesus christ we remember the earth and its fullness make us good stewards of land sea and air we pray in particular for saint andrew preschool and its outdoor education program let bless the staff and children as they explore your nature your creation lord in your mercy hear our prayer lord jesus king of kings we commit to your care our recently installed president and vice president and all newly elected senators congressmen and state and local officials give them listening ears as they seek to guide our country forward we pray for all those responsible for the well-being of a civil society lord in your mercy hear our prayer lord the great healer we pray for those who suffer in men but in mind body or spirit we remember especially those who are sick or hospitalized with cobin 19. those struggling with mental illness because of covenant 19 those who are hungry homeless or employed because of covenant 19 lord in your mercy hear our prayer lord of the sabbath we pray for the concerns of our congregation on this lord's day comfort those who are grieving give strength to those who are suffering be present to those who are housebound or isolated in particular we pray for maria jennifer reg anita delva betty scott joan verna lori denny janelle and gail we also lift up the families of simon pearson friend of claire smith and jim henkel julie christian's father and others we know who have died from coved and for all those names that we now speak or write in the chat lord in your mercy hear our prayer merciful and loving god we proclaim your love this morning your works are great and your thoughts are profound as this lord's day draws to close and we face the working week we may we ask all this in the name of your son jesus christ amen the peace of christ be with you if you're joining us for our live sunday premiere you are invited to share messages of peace and greeting in the chat [Music] as we give thanks for god's goodness and offer our gifts in whatever way we can let us sing the doxology together praise god from whom all blessings fall praise god all creatures hear below praise god above ye horse praise father son and holy ghost a man and let us pray our prayer of dedication together god remind us to share everything food blessings baptisms send us forth into the world being the hands and feet of christ help us to be your disciples amen and now let us pray together as jesus has taught us our father in heaven hallowed be your name your kingdom come your will be done on earth as in heaven give us today our daily bread forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever amen well i do have a few announcements for us this morning of course our adult ed is meeting this morning at 11 o'clock continuing our study of the book so you want to talk about race a great discussion happening there and this afternoon we have our annual congregational meeting we will be holding this on zoom as we did back in september hopefully you have been able to see the annual report that has been attached to the e the weekly e-blast the last couple of weeks if you do want a paper copy there are some available here at the church that you can pick up during the food pantry hours on wednesdays from one to three and if you'd like one mailed to you just be in touch with amy to coordinate that we do hope you will all plan to join us for our congregational meeting this afternoon at three o'clock we will be passing our 2021 2021 budget as well as electing new leadership and then we're also going to celebrate our ministry over the past year via a slide show so we hope that you will plan to join us and again you don't need a computer or a smartphone in order to join in on zoom you simply need a telephone and the phone number is on the google calendar or reach out to me to find out that phone number if you need that so that you could call in now with lent coming up as we've mentioned before we are going to be focusing this year as a whole congregation on creation care using a devotional called for the beauty of the earth written by leah shade and we are asking that individuals purchase that it's just a couple of bucks from a couple of different um online uh vendors um if you do want help in getting your own copy you can reach out to aileenlivengood and she can help you get one there also is a sign up for for those that small group discussion that will be happening on sunday mornings beginning on the 21st of february so if you would not mark if you are interested in those in the weekly e-blast there is another opportunity for small group discussion during lent which is a small group bible study called becoming the story we tell and these groups are also going to meet weekly small groups meeting weekly for six weeks of lent and there's one option is sunday afternoons at three and the other option is monday evenings at 6 30 and through biblical study the goal of these groups is to identify those things that prevent us from fully following jesus so that once we discover them we can turn from them and accept the new life that god offers to us so you can see more details in the e-blast or the newsletter and there is also a sign up for you there and as we've mentioned we do have our next outdoor parking lot worship service on sunday february 14th valentine's day the theme of that worship is going to be god's agape love and we're also going to be hosting a super bowl of caring donation drive so inviting you to bring in food gifts donations for local pantries as well as financial donations that will go to support food ministries as well and then as part of that day on the 14th we have an ash wednesday activity that will be a part of our ash wednesday worship that we would like to involve the whole congregation with planting a seed or seeds and so we want to offer those seeds and pots and soil for anybody who doesn't have them so that we can have as many people participate in that on ash wednesday see more of the details and an rsvp for the 14th in the e-blast or reach out to me if you have any questions i know lots of announcements today don't forget that this tuesday night is ministry team night and our leadership retreat with all of our new leaders is next saturday from nine to noon on zoom be sure to check the e-blast for all of the small group gatherings and now let's continue worship with our liturgical laughter moment and are sending him well kyle was bo wise before he got married roof last [Music] into [Music] [Music] you [Music] is [Music] of all that is [Music] we gathered into warnings [Music] join me in stating our mission filled with god's forgiveness and grace we seek to bring healing wholeness and justice to all people and creation and now may god the creator strengthen you jesus the beloved fill you and the holy spirit the comforter keep you in peace amen go in peace be the light of christ thanks be to god [Music] [Music] you [Music] foreign [Music] you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] us [Music] my god [Music] foreign [Music] my god my sacrifice [Music] is [Music] me [Music] is oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] [Music] [Music] fruits [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] me [Music] and he is jealous for me loves when all of a sudden i am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory and i realize just how beautiful you are and how great your affections are for me know how he loves he us us how he loves us all and he is jealous for me loves like a hurricane i am [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh he loves us [Music] us you