From Invisible to Indispensable! - Sanctity of Life Sunday 2021 - Lutherans For Life
Invocation
P In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C Amen.
Collect
P Almighty God, open our eyes to behold Your great love toward us in the humility of Your Son and to know Him in the least ones, that we may serve You by serving our neighbors, until You gather us together to rejoice as brothers and sisters in Your everlasting kingdom; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C Amen.
Old Testament Reading 1 Samuel 16:4–13
4Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, “Do you come peaceably?” 5And he said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
6When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.” 7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 8Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 9Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 10And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” 11Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.” 12And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah.
P This is the Word of the Lord.
Epistle 1 Corinthians 12:12–26
12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
P This is the Word of the Lord.
Holy Gospel
P The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 13th chapter.
C Glory to You, O Lord.
31He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
33He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”
34All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable.
44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
P This is the Gospel of the Lord.
Apostles' Creed
C I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life T everlasting. Amen.
842 Son of God, Eternal Savior
1 Son of God, eternal Savior,
Source of life and truth and grace,
Word made flesh, whose birth among us
Hallows all our human race,
You our Head, who, throned in glory,
For Your own will ever plead:
Fill us with Your love and pity,
Heal our wrongs, and help our need.
2 As You, Lord, have lived for others,
So may we for others live.
Freely have Your gifts been granted;
Freely may Your servants give.
Yours the gold and Yours the silver,
Yours the wealth of land and sea;
We but stewards of Your bounty
Held in solemn trust will be.
3 Come, O Christ, and reign among us,
King of love and Prince of Peace;
Hush the storm of strife and passion,
Bid its cruel discords cease.
By Your patient years of toiling,
By Your silent hours of pain,
Quench our fevered thirst of pleasure,
Stem our selfish greed of gain.
4 Son of God, eternal Savior,
Source of life and truth and grace,
Word made flesh, whose birth among us
Hallows all our human race:
By Your praying, by Your willing
That Your people should be one,
Grant, O grant our hope’s fruition:
Here on earth Your will be done.
Text: Public domain
Sermon
1 Corinthians 12:22 the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable
Inside our inner ears there are these little tiny particles, microscopic crystals of calcium carbonate, the same stuff as chalk. They’re called otoliths, which literally means ear stones. They rattle around in our ears and help us have balance, and a sense of up and down and perpendicular. These tiny, invisible particles control our whole bodies’ alignment with the rest of the world. Mostly you don’t even notice it, until something causes one of these ear stones to stray from their usual space and everything can get out of whack, you feel dizzy, nauseous your eyes wobble trying to adjust, because your brain is getting signals that you are out of balance. The whole body from head to toe can either move fluidly or might go completely haywire all because of a tiny speck of chalk dust.
The apostle Paul gives the Corinthian church a great way to think about their relationship with each other. They are like parts of the body. They are different. But each is valuable and important. Together they comprise one body. 1 Cor. 12:14 “For the body is not one member, but many.”
In this book of 1 Corinthians Paul points out some issues that show that people aren’t acting like one body with different parts. In the first chapter, he tells them that he is disturbed to hear that they have factions in the congregation, different, competing groups and cliques. In the fifth chapter, some are living immoral lives, acting like all that mattered was themselves and their selfish desires, and nobody else mattered. In Chapter seven, an argument led to a lawsuit in the public courts. Imagine if in a body, the hand would sue the foot. In the eleventh chapter, their disunity is even spoiling their celebration of the sacrament in Holy Communion.
To counteract these problems Paul tells them , he tells us all, let’s think of ourselves as one body, Christ’s body. Think about a body, even a part that would normally get no respect, if it’s hurt, the whole body hurts. Your little toe, who cares about your little toe? But if it gets stubbed, or smashed, the eye looks down at it. The fingers reach to grasp it. The face winces. The whole body bends over to it. All are concerned because this one little part hurts.
This image ought to drive us toward compassion for each other and especially for the weakest among us. Christ’s body cares for weak, and considers them to be an indispensible part of us. The baby yet in the mother’s womb, is precious and dear. The elderly on the death bed are valuable and beloved.
We get too busy and it’s just easier to forget about the fellow members of the body. Whether they are well or sick, it’s not on our mind. If they are living or dead, we don’t even notice. We each go on our own way focusing on what we feel is “more important”. It’s as if we are saying, “Let someone else have concern for them. Let somebody else take care of them.”
1 Cor. 12:26 “If one member sufferes, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
And again, verse 17: 1 Cor. 12:17 “If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?” Something is wrong with us as individuals if we fear differences, if it’s awkward for us to be around someone who is different than us, different because of their age or their background, or culture or language, or appearance or abilities. In a body, differences are necessary. Differences are to be acknowledged and honored. The body needs feet, ears, teeth, white and red blood cells. It can be deadly to think that some part is unimportant, not valuable.
What’s it take for you to look at someone who is different than you, and say, he is valuable? How can you change your aversion to someone who is not like you? If she is different than you, you might not have chosen her to be your friend. If she has problems of health or mental capacity, she might not be your first choice to spend time with. But if you belong to God, and they belong to God, you can begin to think about these things fresh and new.
We belong in this body, that is of Christ. You belong. I belong. They belong. Therefore we belong to each other. Together we belong to God, our Creator, who formed us and breathed life into us. Together we belong to the One Lord Jesus Christ who took our guilt on Himself and redeemed us all by His blood and His death.
The troubles that our fellow members of this body have are not theirs alone. Their pain is our sorrow. Their absence is our loss. Their stumble or their fall distresses us. This is why we are sickened by abortion and the expectation that their will soon be less restrictions on abortions, because those dear little boys and girls belong to our God.
Romans 14:7-8 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.
God forgive us for wanting to just live on our own, our own way, just as we please. God grant us such insight that we overlook no one, but see every neighbor, and thankfully acknowledge them as brothers and sisters. Amen.
Prayers
P Let us pray for the whole people of God in Christ Jesus and for all people according to their needs.
P For the Holy Christian Church, gathered here and scattered throughout the world, that by the grace of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we may believe and rejoice that He creates, redeems, and calls every human life as His own precious treasure, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For our Christian witness, that this Gospel of Jesus Christ may motivate us to speak His truth and show His love to every neighbor, no matter what age, appearance, or ability, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For this land and its authorities, that God grant them wisdom, nobility, and responsibility to safeguard in policy and practice the sanctity of every member of our race, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For all medical professionals, that our Savior lend them His own courage and compassion to deliver relief and health, and to reject every temptation to use death as a solution to suffering, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For those scheduled for abortion, those experiencing surprise pregnancies, those awaiting adoption, those enduring chronic pain, and those approaching death, that our Heavenly Father sustain them in their distresses and open our hearts and hands to embrace, accompany, and encourage them, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For those who permit, promote, and participate in abortion, physician-assisted suicide, and other violent works against life, and especially for those whose hearts have been broken by the abortion of their own children, that God forgive them and turn them from their sin to receive His healing, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P For our brothers and sisters suffering injuries, illnesses, or disabilities, the aches and pains of body and soul, that the good Lord visit them in their affliction through the fellowship of His body, preserve their life and their faith, and grant both quick remedy and complete recovery, let us pray to the Lord:
C Lord, have mercy.
P Into Your hands, O Lord, we commend ourselves and all for whom we pray, trusting in Your mercy, through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
C Amen.
Lord's Prayer
C Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Benediction
P The Lord bless you and keep you.
The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and T give you peace.
C Amen.
Acknowledgments
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2021 Concordia Publishing House.
With special thanks to LutheransForLife.org
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