Author: katyandtheword

Pastor Katy has enjoyed ministry at New Covenant since 2010, where the church has solidified its community focus. She now works at Capital CFO plus as the Non Profit Director. All opinions expressed on this blog are her own and do not reflect those of Capital CFO plus. Prior to that she studied both Theology and Christian Formation at Princeton Theological Seminary. She also served as an Assistant Chaplain at Trenton Psychiatric Hospital and as the Christian Educational Coordinator at Bethany Presbyterian at Bloomfield, NJ. She is an writer and is published in Enfleshed, Sermonsuite, Presbyterian's today and Outlook. She writes prayers, liturgy, poems and public theology and is pursuing her doctorate in ministry in Creative Write and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She enjoys working within and connecting to the community, is known to laugh a lot during service, and tells as many stories as possible. Pastor Katy loves reading Science Fiction and Fantasy, theater, arts and crafts, music, playing with children and sunshine, and continues to try to be as (w)holistically Christian as possible. "Publisher after publisher turned down A Wrinkle in Time," L'Engle wrote, "because it deals overtly with the problem of evil, and it was too difficult for children, and was it a children's or an adult's book, anyhow?" The next year it won the prestigious John Newbery Medal. Tolkien states in the foreword to The Lord of the Rings that he disliked allegories and that the story was not one.[66] Instead he preferred what he termed "applicability", the freedom of the reader to interpret the work in the light of his or her own life and times.

Call to Worship

The Lord is my light and my salvation

Whom should I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom should I be afraid?

Only you God, are worthy of praise, let us praise the Lord.

Prayer of Confession Lord, I am so fixated on making my life profitable. I want to be famous, or rich, or well liked. I do not want to take up my cross and follow, the world’s easy ways tempt me. Remind me of your kingdom and power forever I pray. Amen

Prayer of Confession: God I don’t want to know that you are going to die for me. It makes me feel weak, worthless, angry and sad all at the same time. Who am I that you are going to die for me. Remind me who I am in your eyes I pray.

Prayer of Confession: (unison) Help us to wait for you, O Lord. Be strong and take heart, you say. Give us the courage as we wait for the Lord. Send us forth believing that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living we pray. Amen.

Assurance of Pardon: God gave us his beloved son so we might hear and know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: God is our shelter from sin, his grace covers me so I know the truth. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: One thing I ask, O Lord, that I may live in your house all the days of my life. Shelter me so that I might live in the shadow of your love today and everyday I pray. Amen

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Help us to wait for you, O Lord. Be strong and take heart, you say. Give us the courage as we wait for the Lord we pray. Amen.

Hymns: Lift High the Cross, I want To Be a Christian in My Heart, Somebody’s Knocking at your Door, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, Lift Up the Gates Eternal, Called to Partners in Christ’s Service, God is My Strong Salvation, Take My Life, Jesus on the Mountain Peak, O Wondrous Sight, O Vision Fair, Be Thou My Vision

With Children: Books Red, I Don’t Want to be a Frog, Transmorgificaion (Calvin and Hobbes box have them walk thru to be more themselves, Play with White Clay (Talk about how clay is always clay but dry/fired clay is different than wet clay)

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Seeds of Prayer: What Defiles? Narrative Lectionary

Mark 7:1-23

Psalm 51:1-3,6-7

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Exegetical Resources

Call to Worship

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise.

For you accept all worship, no matter how imperfect, as long as it is sincere

Write your love on my lips and my head and my heart

That I might reflect it back to you in praise

Call to Worship

Symbols of worship are well and good, but Lord open my heart so that I might be filled with your Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit Come! Inspire us to Praise, Encourage us to Praise, Counsel us about who your are!

Lord create in us a new heart for you, for you are holy

Come Let us Praise the Lord

Prayer for Confession: Have mercy on me, O God. My sins itch in my soul. Soothe them away with your love. The jarring of my wrongs disturb the harmonies of my life. Sing them away with your grace. Comfort me, that I can still come into your perfect presence, and teach me your ways Lord.

Prayer of Confession: I am but a bag of crushed bones, weighed down by sins. I feel stuck. Deliver me God, so that I can once again sing of your deliverance I pray.

Assurance of Pardon: God promises to never ever leave us. As reliable as the mountains, as varied as the rainbow, as cyclical as a garden, God’s love never fails us. Therefore know the Truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: God will restore our salvation again and again, sustaining in us a willing spirit. Know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: Hear the good news Jesus has already come, restoring us to salvation. Know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Eucharist Prayer: God is love incarnate. When words and stars and rainbows and columns of burning fire and even covenants written in stone failed to impart the magnitude of God’s love to us, God embodied love for us in the boundary breaking, truth telling, justice fighting person of Jesus Christ. And I will tell us that Christ was born for us, Christ dies for us, Christ reigns in his Kingdom for us and Christ promises to return. We await that return with baited breath. Practicing the Kingdom meal over and over again, until the act of tasting a single crumb of bread and a single drop of the cup will serve help us to realize that heaven is home. We are practicing this here and now, Jesus, so please send your Holy Spirit here to embody, encourage, embolden and counsel us in all the ways we need to be coaxed into the kingdom. Lead us there today and throughout our day, year and life we pray.

Prayer of Dedication/Prayer of the Day: Holy God, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Grant us the echoes of grace we need to sustain our life, our hope, our faith we pray.

Hymns: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty, Create in Me a Clean Heart, If I had thousand Tongues to Sing, Amazing Grace, O God in a Mysterious Way

More Resources for Narrative Lectionary Year 2

Bulletin Mark 6:1-29

Bulletin by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl

Welcome and Announcements Reader

Prelude Holy, Holy (Blue Hymnal, 140)

Opening Prayer (from Psalm 24:4-5 The Living Bible paraphrase)

Show us the path where we should go, O Lord; point out the right road for us to walk.

Lead us; teach us; for you are the God who gives us salvation. We have no hope except in you, O Lord. Amen.

Call to Worship (from Psalm 24:8-10, The Living Bible paraphrase) Reader

One: The Lord is good

Many: and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray.

One: The Lord will teach the ways that are right and best

Many: to those who humbly turn to him. When we obey him,

One: the path on which God guides us is fragrant with his loving-kindness

and his truth

ALL: THANKS BE TO GOD

*Opening Hymn O Christ, the Great Foundation Blue, 443

*Call to Confession Reader God calls us to tell and live the truth; let us confess our need for God’s forgiveness and grace for the ways in which we do not live up to this call.

Prayer of Confession (unison)

(Silent Confession) Like Herod, we fear the truth of our role in injustice and oppression. We hide the truth of our own pain. We deny the truth of the pain of the voiceless. We close our ears to the truth in favor of what we already believe. When the truth is hidden and twisted, we find it hard to speak up.

Forgive us. Enable us to hear—and speak—the truth.

Words of Assurance (from John 8:32, 34, 36) Jesus promised “you will know

the truth and the truth shall set you free. Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin, but if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Thank God for the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Gloria Patri: (Blue #579) “Glory Be to the Father”

Passing of the Peace: The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.

Prayers of the People/Lord’s Prayer (traditional) Blue Hymnal, p. 14

Celebration of Birthdays and Anniversaries Reader

Offering Hymn God Is Here! Blue Hymnal, 461

* Doxology (Blue, #592) Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

* Prayer of Dedication (unison) Pastor

Prayer for Illumination Blue Hymnal, 327

O Word of God, incarnate, O Wisdom from on high,

O Truth unchanged, unchanging, O Light of our dark sky:

We praise You for the radiance That from the hallowed page.

A lantern to our footsteps, Shines on from age to age.

Scripture Reading: Mark 6:1-39 Reader

Message: Speaking Truth to Power

Communion Hymn Here I Am, Lord Blue Hymnal, 525 *Confession of Faith – The Nicene Creed (Ecumenical) Blue Hymnal, p.15

Invitation to Communion

Prayer of Great Thanksgiving

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.

[Prayer continues]

And so together we praise and thank you, O Lord.

Sharing of the Bread and the Cup

Prayer after Communion

*Closing Hymn Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts Blue Hymnal, 510

*Charge and Benediction Pastors Barb and Len

Postlude Lord, Make Us More Holy (Blue Hymnal, 536)

*Stand in body and/or spirit

**From http://theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupWorshipAid.asp?LRID=419.

Death of John the Baptist

Mark 6:1-29

Psalm 122

Bulletin

Call to Worship

I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord

Let us build this as a place of peace and security

For the sake of our friends and family let us say to one another Peace be with you

Peace be with you, come let us seek good

Call to Worship:

We are called and sent two by two

God provides us all we need

Let us pray and anoint and heal together

Come let us worship the Lord

Prayer of Confession: God we confess that we do not go into the world, we stay on the known path. We lack courage, we forget the weak, we ignore suffering. We do not honor each other, we have trouble loving and serving the Lord. Restore us to your house and teach us how to pass the peace we pray. Amen.

Prayer of Confession:Discipleship is so hard, Lord. Often we are carrying too much baggage with us from place to place to place. When we are hurt, we have trouble shaking the dust off our feet and hear the echoes of what was said before. We doubt that we have the authority to banish demons. Encourage us in our discipleship we pray

Prayer of Confession: God, we confess that discipleship is hard. Often we carry baggage with us from place to place, much more than the recommended staff. We have trouble shaking the dust off our feet from troubling experiences. We struggle to take on the authority to banish demons. Help us to be the disciples you would have us to be.

Assurance of Pardon: Peace be with you. God’s grace reigns down and proclaims the truth In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of Dedication/Prayer of the Day: Lord, help us to seek the good. Help us to say Peace be with you for every single individual we meet, for the sake of all of our community for our friends, neighbors and families. Let us pray for peace within all our walls we pray.

Communion: Let us give thanks to the Prince of Peace, who welcomes us into the kingdom with a celebratory meal, bringing us together. The bread and cup tie us together, build our community and sends us out for the work of peace. May we share Christ by sharing the peace here today and everyday.

Hymns: Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, We will serve the Lord, Called to Partner’s in Christ’s Service, All Hail for Christ’s Anointed, Be Thou My Vision, For All the Saints, Lead On O King Eternal

With Children: Pack for a trip (pretend pack with paper items), Talk about/write down hurtful words and things: rip them up/shake the dust from your feet, Anoint each other with oil and pray for each other.

Other Weeks of Seeds of Prayer Narrative Lectionary Resources available here

Communion Prayer by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl

Invitation

B: Come to me,

all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

L: I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry,

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

Prayer of Great Thanksgiving

B: O God, you commanded light to shine out of darkness.

You divided the sea and dry land.

You created the vast universe and called it good.

You made us in your image,

sending out your light and truth to lead us

to you and to your holy dwelling.

The sum of your word is truth;

You speak the truth, and declare what is right

And so we praise and thank you, O Lord.

L: Then in the fullness of time,

out of your great love for the world,

you sent your only-begotten,

in whom your fullness dwells,

to be for us the way, the truth, and the life.

Revealing your truth and your love,

Jesus taught those who would hear him.

He healed those who believed in him.

He received all who sought him

and lifted the burden of their sin.

And so we praise and thank you, O Lord.

B: In fulfillment of Christ’s promise,

you pour out the Holy Spirit upon your people,

filling us with the power of your truth.

By the Holy Spirit’s power over us

and over these earthly gifts of bread and wine,

you make this the communion of the body and blood of Christ,

and unite us to him and to one another.

And so we praise and thank you, O Lord.

Prayer after communion

B: Having received this gift of communion, O God,

We ask that you kindle faith in us. Lead us into all truth,

Empower us to claim Jesus as the way, the truth and the life.

May his coming in glory find us

ever watchful in prayer,

strong in truth and love,

and faithful in the breaking of the bread.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Benediction

L: May the light of Christ

B: illuminate your way

L: show you the truth,

B: and empower you to live for him.

2: Until you feast with all the saints

in joy of Christ’s heavenly banquet. Amen.

Bulletin for Jairus’ Daughter

Welcome and Announcements Reader

Prelude:

Opening Prayer

Call to Worship*** Reader

One: Loving God, Many: we are yours.
We come as we are, with our cares and concerns.
We long to touch you and find healing in your embrace.
Strengthen our faith and heal our brokenness,
ALL: THAT WE MAY WORSHIP YOU WITH JOY. AMEN.

*Opening Hymn Leaning on the Everlasting Arms Red Hymnal, 366

*Call to Confession Reader Let us ask God to renew our confidence in God’s goodness and grace.

Prayer of Confession (unison): Holy God, you see us as we are.

We confess that we forget that all life comes from you. We do not always seek and do your will.

We do not live as your grateful children. We do not love as Christ loved us.

(Silent Confession)

In your mercy, forgive us, heal us and make us whole.

Set us free from our sin, and restore to us the joy of your salvation. Amen.

Words of Assurance (Romans 8:34)

Who is in a position to condemn? Only Christ, and Christ died for us,

Christ rose for us, Christ reigns in power for us, Christ prays for us.

Thank God for the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Gloria Patri: (Blue #579) “Glory Be to the Father” Passing of the Peace: The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.

Prayers of the People/Lord’s Prayer (traditional) Blue Hymnal, p. 14

Celebration of Birthdays and Anniversaries Reader

Offering Hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing Blue Hymnal, 356

* Doxology (Blue, #592) Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

* Prayer of Dedication (unison) Pastor Len

God, use these gifts to heal and to honor you, In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Prayer for Illumination Blue Hymnal, 426

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak In living echoes of Thy tone;

As Thou hast sought, so let me seek, Thine erring children lost and lone.

Hebrew Scripture Reading: Psalm 121 Reader

Gospel Scripture Reading: Mark 5:21-4 Pastor Len

Message Pastor Len

*Confession of Faith (from the Brief Confession of Faith, 1983)

We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God.

Jesus proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor

and release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the children, healing the sick and binding up the brokenhearted, eating with outcasts,

forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe the gospel.

Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was crucified,

suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for the sins of the world.

God raised this Jesus from the dead, vindicating his sinless life,

breaking the power of sin and evil, delivering us from death to life eternal.

Thanks be to God!

*Closing Hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus Blue Hymnal, 403

*Charge and Benediction Pastor

Postlude

*Stand in body and/or spirit

**Adapted from Bruce Prewer’s Prayers for the 21^st Century; http://www.bruceprewer.com/b_p21.htm

Seeds of Prayer Jairus’ Daughter Healed

Jairus’ Daughter Healed

Mark 5:21-43

Psalm 131

Bulletin Resource written by Barb Hedges-Goettl

Call to Worship

Lord, we are imperfect and unready

Yet, Jesus says, child come.

We will come, whenever you call, for you are full of grace and healing

Let us worship the one who is the power and the resurrection forever.

Call to Worship

Come let us contemplate the Lord together

God your works are too marvelous for me to comprehend

Yet, like a weaned child with it’s mother, we are comforted

Come let us put our hope in the Lord

Prayer of Confession: God, I confess that I am unable to fully understand you in all of your might. When I am overwhelmed, lead me back to you, comfort me, nuzzle me, calm and quiet my soul I pray. Amen

Prayer of Confession: God, today, like the woman who suffered for twelve years, I come to you with an open wound. No healing has taken place, and my pain is dripping on the floor, embarrassing me. Teach me to but touch you today so that the healing I need may start I pray. Amen

Prayer of Confession: My soul cries out for the Lord, like a child. I sit on the floor and I scream, feeling like nothing will every be right again. But then you pick me up, hug me, feed me and put me safely to bed, enveloping me in your love. Surround me with that comfort I pray.

Assurance of Pardon: God you are our comfort when the rest of the world is full of rocks and scrapes, no matter what scoop us down and put us back on our feet again and again. In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: There is no mistake too big for God to forgive. That’s why God sent Jesus. Know the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: God, you leave the light on for all of your children. Help us to go out into the world and invite others into your love we pray. Amen.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Lord, you will repeat your message of love as often as we need to hear it. Let us echo in our minds, hearts and souls we pray.

Prayer of Communion: Lord, what have I to fear from you. You who loved us into being, breathing life into us, gifting us with the entire world to take care of. Then when we stumbled, you sent Jesus to be our sibling and make us co-heirs to your kingdom. You have assured a place for us in your house, and you make us welcome with the Kingdom meal, even here and now on earth. Send your Holy Spirit upon this feast so that we may celebrate communion with entire family of God we pray.

Hymns: This is Our Father’s World, Blessed Assurance Jesus is Mine, God is My Rock

With Children: Create a picture/clay/image of a mother God comforting a baby. Look through parenting magazine and create a collage of all the mothers and babies/children. Runaway Bunny, You are My I Love You, Follow the Moon, Take turns “sleeping” and having Jesus wake you up as Jairus’ child. Interrupting Chicken books, Talk about Important interruptions

Other Weeks of Seeds of Prayer Narrative Lectionary Resources available here

Bulletin: Garasene Man

Prayers by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl please credit 🙂
Welcome and Announcements Reader
Prelude Go, Tell it On the Mountain (Blue, 29)
Opening Prayer**
O God, in this time of worship, speak a word to us:
a word of life, a word of encouragement, a sustaining, life-changing, word,
for we know that with your word you heal the sick, cure the infirm,
and even raise the dead.
So come into this house and speak, Lord—speak, for your children are listening.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Call to Worship (Romans 9:16, 26-28) Reader
One: Everything depends not on what we humans want or do,
Many: but only on God's mercy;
Not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles
we are the people God calls.
God says, “the people who were not mine,
I will call ‘My People’
the nation that I did not love
I will call ‘My Beloved’
And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called the children of the living God.”

*Opening Hymn God of Compassion, in Mercy Befriend Us Blue, 261

*Call to Confession Reader
Sometimes we are tossed and thrown by what goes on around us.
Let us renew our trust in God.
Prayer of Confession (unison)

God, the forces that pummel us are legion.
The things that call to us are like an unruly mob.
At times we are battered, hit left and right by tough situations.
At times we are bereft, falling into hopelessness.
At time we are bemused, not knowing what to make of it all.
Forgive us for not turning more constantly to you,
our constant help in times of need. (Silent Confession)

Words of Assurance:
See how much the Lord does for us, how he shows mercy on us.
We thank God for the Good News: In Jesus Christ, we are forgiven.

Gloria Patri: (Blue #579) “Glory Be to the Father”

Passing of the Peace: The peace of Christ be with you. And also with you.

Minute for Mission

Prayers of the People/Lord’s Prayer (traditional) Blue Hymnal, p. 14

Celebration of Birthdays and Anniversaries Reader

Offering Hymn God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending Blue Hymnal, 422

* Doxology (Blue, #592) Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow

* Prayer of Dedication (unison) Pastor

Prayer for Illumination Blue Hymnal, 11
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:1-20 Reader

Message

*Confession of Faith – The Apostles’ Creed (Traditional) Blue Hymnal, p.14

*Closing Hymn Live Into Hope Blue Hymnal, 332

*Charge and Benediction Pastor

Postlude O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee (Blue Hymnal, 357)

Rejected Sermon Titles: Jesus and the demons of our mind

Mark 5:1-20

Psalm 89:1-4

by Pastor Katy Stenta

“Legion: for We are many”

I think it is amazing that Jesus gets the man to name his demon…or the demon to name itself before Jesus expelled it from the poor man.

How many times do we need to name our demons before we can get rid of them? If it’s something that is (typically) smaller like jealousy or self-righteousness or something all encompassing like mental illness or addiction, so often we humans need to name a problem before we can even work on it.

And don’t we all have demon voices, terrible self-erasing voices in our heads twisting the way we see the world.

Whether they are the kind of demons that self-aggrandize (though I don’t think that is this demon’s way) telling us that we are better than everyone else, telling us we deserve more than others, dismissing others as meaningless, insignificant (or worse of all) dehumanizing them so that we don’t have to care for each other. There are strong echoes of the need for Anti-racists and Anti-Terf and Anti-Ageist work across the board. It’s the voice that tells us we are better Christians (or patriots or workers or whatever) and don’t need to listen to anybody else. Martin Luther King Jr looked towards the humanization of all people and basic humans rights, beyond the dehumanizing results of institutions and systems the include the church and capitalism and nationalism.

Or there is if it is the demon voice that points out every one of our anxieties and failings. It harps on our imperfections and plays our mistakes on repeat in our heads. It gets us to focus on all that is wrong with us and the world so that we cannot hear the voice of God anymore. We devalue ourselves, and can no longer see ourselves as the image of God.

Demons dehumanize.

They erase and X out our names and existence (Madeline L’engle covers this well in her Time Quartet)

When I hear the story of the man tormented by legion–even though no details are given as to how they are making him feel and act crazy only the side effects. When I hear he can’t stand still, and he is driven to live alone, uncleanly with the dead. When I hear that he is cast out as better to be with the dead than the living. I have no trouble hearing those doubting and harping demons in this man’s mind.

In essence that is what the Screwtape Letters is about. The demon has the human focus on the high pitch voices, the gum smacking neighbor and the squeaking shoe fidgeted until these people are no longer seen as community but as annoyances, and all of church is seen as annoying and there is no room to focus on God.

But when we name these problems in our lives, when we lift up our imperfections and sins for prayer, when we ask for support from others and talk about our insecurities. Then people can help us to name all that we did do that day, and how our imperfections are small compared to being a beloved child of God. They lift up that people care for us even when we make mistakes. And remind us of our friends and neighbors good qualities even when (especially when) they are driving us to distraction.

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Maybe then it is no surprise that Jesus restores the Gerasenes Man to his community. I do not think it is about if this man is good enough to follow Jesus, nor about his will to follow for he wants to follow Jesus. I think that Jesus has decided that to complete the healing, this man needs to be restored to his community–so he says “god back to your friends…” The community that hopefully can counter the years of bad and do a better job of nurturing and supporting this man. And I hope we as the church can do the same.

Rejected Sermon Titles: Jesus and disabilities

Mark 2:1-22

Psalm 103:6-14

There is a certain amount of mourning that goes on when you have a child with disabilities. Immediately you start to try to figure out “what went wrong” which is code for who to blame. Most people start with themselves. When I found out Westley had autism, I worried about my two week trip to Israel while I in the 2nd trimester of pregnancy. My mom pointed out that genes are formulated way before that.

My husband talked about his own worries “You know I”m neurotic, and I have ADD” for that matter people in my family have ADD too, and I didn’t eat most foods for most of my life because the textures bothered me, but sure it’s solely your fault that our child has autism.

I think in all societies there is a tendency to try to blame someone for disabilities and the imperfections. We try to find the sin that caused the sin. It is here that we can start to understand that it was more shocking for Jesus to forgive the paraplegic man than it was to see a bodily healing.

Eventually I have come to conclude that no human body is perfect. Not one of us has a body that works perfectly. We all have things that are different. And we are all sinners, we all are imperfect in that way too.

What causes this forgiveness and healing is the communal faith. The parapalegic faith, and his four friends. His friends who haul him up onto the roof, dig a hole in the grass and thatch and lower him down through the roof. Perhaps the lowering through the roof was less amazing than the fact that probably the friends had to touch this crippled man in order to get him to Jesus.

I wonder what that moment was like. I wonder if Jesus saw them trying to get through out of the corner of his eye, or if suddenly a man just appeared out of the sky, like an angel.

Like Jesus lowering himself to human level.

Like a miracle of community.

Then Jesus says because of all of their faith, not one, not another but all including the paraplegic man, he is forgiven…and then healed. Per usual in the Bible faith is used to describe the beliefs and actions of faith (as opposed to belief which is used in ref. to the individual). Not all of them had the same faith or beliefs, all of them had different bodies and skills, but together they formulated the faith for forgiveness and healing.

That is what we practice here in church. We pray for one another when our bodies don’t work well, when we sin, we work on forgiveness together. This church is a communal thing, because that is how we see Jesus.

Seeds of Prayer Liturgy Resource: Jesus and the Gerasene Demon

Mark 5:1-20

Psalm 89:1-4

Bulletin by Rev. Dr. Barb Hedges-Goettl

Sermon by Katy Stenta

Call to Worship

O God, Lord of hosts, who is as mighty as you?

Your faithfulness surrounds you.

The heavens are you, and the earth, the North and the South you created.

Let us extol your name all day long.

Call to Worship

Our God is the God of the covenant, the one who’s word never fails

God never comes too early or too late, God comes in God’s perfect time

Put your faith and trust in God

Praise the God of steadfast love

Call to Worship

Who is Mighty

The God of Love

What is the power of our Lord and Savior? What is this forgiveness?

Help us to proclaim the power of your love we pray.

Prayer of Confession: Steadfast Love, we so often fall short to show the vastness and extent of your love. As such we have as much trouble naming evil, as we have proclaiming good. Sort out our hearts, cast away all the is not a part of your covenant, and bathe us once again in your forgiveness we pray.

Prayer of Confession: Too often we task ourselves with sorting who is in and who is out. We cast out entire individuals, ignoring that which torments them. Teach us to be the neighborhood, community and people of faith who practice welcome and let us leave the sorting to you, we pray.

Assurance of Pardon: God is mighty, our rock and our salvation, so we can proclaim the truth: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Assurance of Pardon: God’s forgiveness is stronger than rocks and longer than history: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.

Prayer of the Day/Dedication: Let us tell of your righteousness, God of steadfast love, covenant and forgiveness. This is the God we want to worship, this is the God who is a part of our lives. Let us go out and tell this news to the whole neighborhood we pray.

Communion Prayer: God you are our shade in the hot sun, our rock when things are unsteady, our shelter when we are under attack. From the beginning, you placed us in the garden and walked with us. When we missed your presence, you sent yourself as a teaching, healing, loving embodiment of your Love Jesus: the word, the covenant, the body, the presence. Send your Holy Spirit upon these elements so we can taste and see your love as a foretaste of the kingdom banquet we pray.

With Children: Create a contract of Love between the kids and God, Talk about what bad thoughts/feelings plague you: pray that they can be treated/controlled (maybe write them down and rip them up). Talk about why the people might have been afraid of the healing (bad treatment in the past? the fact that they blamed the man for his ills?), Ritually wash hands/talk about fogginess, burn sins (mini Ash Weds/precursor)

Caution: This passage also allows for Ableism particularly for those individuals with mental illness.

More Resources:

Mark 5:1-20

https://www.epriest.com/reflections/view/1383/en Reflections on sin and mental illness.

https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/work-as-prayerful-relationships-mark-5-sermon-notes Jesus as making people uncomfortable

https://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/9038/preaching-with-the-storytellers-bible-june-24-2018 Stilling of the storm cf. the healing of the demoniac

https://www.theologyofwork.org/the-high-calling/live-so-others-may-flourish Living to set others free

https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1187 But pigs can swim…

https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1187 The demoniac as good soil—and God’s use of flawed humans

http://download.luthersem.edu/media/working_preacher/narrative/021WPNarrative.mp3 Podcast dealing with the good news of this pericope

https://preachingandworship.org/api/lc/d964f5f065b93c918f184b720e70a1b85e152d70d5124 The Gerasene demoniac and mental health

http://theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupCulturalAid.asp?LRID=419

A service of healing based on Mark 5:1-18

http://theafricanamericanlectionary.org/PopupWorshipAid.asp?LRID=419

Direct link to the worship resources for the service above

https://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2016-06/consequences-deliverance The cost of freedom/consequences of deliverance

https://www.facebook.com/Frederick.Buechner.Center/posts/todays-guest-quote-is-byjohn-ortberg-from-who-is-this-manone-day-jesus-drops-a-/712537528796785/

The response to Jesus on the wrong side of the tracks: the Gerasenes and the healed man

http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark5a.htm RCL-based resources

Includes http://www.michaelturton.com/Mark/GMark05.html#5.p.1.20 addressing chiasmic structure of the passage and the impossibility of it being historical

And http://www.michaelturton.com/Mark/GMark05.html#5.p.1.20 addressing the demoniac’s example of how to address the powers of darkness

And http://www.ekklesiaproject.org/blog/2013/06/declare-how-much-god-has-done-for-you/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=declare-how-much-god-has-done-for-you “Declare how much God has done for you.”

“tomb” https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G3419&t=KJV; cf. resurrection accounts. Root is μνήμη mnēmē remembrance, cf. mne·mon·ic, anamnesis, amnesia, etc. ttps://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3420&t=KJV

“unclean” cf. catharsis

ἀκάθαρτος

Transliteration

akathartos

Pronunciation

ä-kä’-thär-tos (Key)

Part of Speech

adjective

Root Word (Etymology)

From ἄλφα (G1) (as a negative particle) and a presumed derivative of καθαίρω (G2508) (meaning cleansed)

“torment”

Mar 5:7

And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment ^G928 me not.

TOOLS

Mar 6:48

And he saw them toiling ^G928 in rowing; for the wind was contrary unto them: and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have passed by them.

The KJV translates Strong’s G928 in the following manner: torment (8x), pain (1x), toss (1x), vex (1x), toil (1x).

Outline of Biblical Usage [?]

I.to test (metals) by the touchstone, which is a black siliceous stone used to test the purity of gold or silver by the colour of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either metal
II.to question by applying torture
III.to torture
IV.to vex with grievous pains (of body or mind), to torment
V.to be harassed, distressed
1. of those who at sea are struggling with a head wind

Strong’s Definitions [?](Strong’s Definitions Legend)

βασανίζω basanízō, bas-an-id’-zo; from G931; to torture:—pain, toil, torment, toss, vex.

Other Weeks of Seeds of Prayer Narrative Lectionary Resources available here