Grace and peace to you as we begin the post-Pentecost season, sometimes called Ordinary time. The only thing Ordinary in this time is our life of faith in God’s grace.
Our invitation to worship celebrates that all good comes from God and that the inspiration of the Spirit leads us to be merciful. Our first lesson from Genesis is the direction from God to Abram to go and inherit the land of Canaan and to become the father of all nations. The Psalmist sings a song that rejoices in God’s grace and reminds humans to praise God because God is Lord. The reading from the letter to the Romans retells the story of Abraham and reminds Christians that his inheritance was based on his relationship with God. Matthew’s gospel tells of Matthew’s call to be a disciple and recounts the healing of the hemorrhaging woman and the restoration to life of the Jewish leader’s dead daughter.
On the second Sunday after Pentecost we begin our summer of reflections about what it means to be believers and evangelists for God. We are reminded that Jesus is willing to cede his place of privilege as Son of God to do the hard work of healing he must do. Yet his ministry isn’t simply “one size fits all” but it engages the needs and desires of others to bring about an awareness of God’s presence in each person’s life. Our scripture reminds us that being part of God’s chosen people on earth doesn’t make us great. Rather, being chosen by God, we are expected to share our power in God’s name, thus becoming recognized as one of God’s people doing hard work to make people whole and complete.
How do you capitalize on being God’s chosen person to help others find health and wholeness in the middle of their often-mundane lives? I invite your comments,
Les+
Lessons: Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26
Sermon link: https://audiomack.com/fatherles-2/song/pentecost-2-sermon-2
