Today\u2019s readings and Collect can be seen as a unit teaching us about God\u2019s power and how it works in us. The opening Collect (prayer) in the Episcopal Church says: \u201cGrant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This power is based on the unity of the gathered, not a majority of the divided. It is a power that expresses itself in service, mercy, healing, reconciliation, and includes all of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeremiah learns about this power when he is called to be a prophet. He protests that he doesn\u2019t know how to speak well, and is merely a boy, but God tells him he is chosen for a life filled with the Spirit. He is to go and proclaim the truth everywhere, and is assured God will put the right words into his mouth. So, in the tradition of the great Biblical prophets Jeremiah goes to \u201cdestroy and overthrow; to build and to plant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jeremiah teaches us that God\u2019s power is not always found in those who are mighty, wealthy or politically adroit. Like David against Goliath, God can use even a boy, and one not gifted with glibness to do God\u2019s work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God\u2019s power sustains us. This is a teaching from the appointed Psalm 71, verse 6: \u201cI have been sustained by you ever since I was born; from my mother\u2019s womb you have been my strength; my praise shall be always of you.\u201d And so, Jeremiah, throughout his prophetic witness is upheld, as is Jesus while he fasts in the wilderness, and Paul as he is shipwrecked and later imprisoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The passage from Hebrews develops this theme of God\u2019s power in an eloquent set of verses that illustrate our relationship with the old covenant now supplanted by the New Covenant based on the \u201csprinkling of blood,\u201d and then ends with the assurance that \u201csince we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, by which we offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe; for indeed our God is a consuming fire.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gospel Lesson focuses on the healing of a woman on the Sabbath. Jesus\u2019s rebuttal to the leader of the synagogue is practical: \u201cDoes not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water?\u201d But behind his action and the exposure of hypocrisy is the destruction of an old sacrificial system that operated the other six days of the week. Jesus heals her and asks for nothing except to praise God, which the woman freely does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is no longer necessary to obey all of the strict purity code, to make the necessary sacrifices. Now one simply puts one\u2019s trust in God and the power is unleashed, sometimes dramatically, sometimes quietly, but always as needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the national political campaign cranks up and we are bombarded with political ads and slogans that weary us all, it helps to remember that God\u2019s power does not require gigantic sums of money, the latest and fastest technology, or the \u201cpackaging\u201d of candidates for office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, as believers we have access to the power of the Spirit to fill our hearts and minds with God\u2019s love and promise. As the world careens along with chaos and disorder unending, God offers us the power God gave to Jeremiah, the promise to have the right words and actions given to us to do the work of an evangelist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our communities, among the people we see every day, are those who thirst for something other than cynicism and despair, but may not know it is there for the asking. A few weeks ago we were reminded to \u201cseek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.\u201d Those who do so know they can walk through times of difficulty without being overcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are some pointers to help us remember how and why we are empowered:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Note: you may wish to elaborate on two or three of these or select one especially appropriate to the context).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So, we are called to show forth God\u2019s power to all peoples. Churches are places from which God\u2019s power and compassion emanate to a hurting and chaotic world, badly in need of God\u2019s mercy and love. We are the people called to that service. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n This sermon was written by the Rev. Ben E. Helmer<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today\u2019s readings and Collect can be seen as a unit teaching us about God\u2019s power and how it works in us. The opening Collect (prayer) in the Episcopal Church says: \u201cGrant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples\u2026\u201d This…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43,52,33,3],"tags":[342],"class_list":["post-512261","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-the-season-after-pentecost","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-proper-16c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":33,"label":"The Season After Pentecost"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":342,"label":"Proper 16C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3474675,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/512261\/revisions\/3474675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n