Worship at All Saints - Sundays at 9:00

Worship is central to who we are here at All Saints. You’ll find a casual, come-as-you-are
atmosphere, and worship that blends ancient and modern liturgies, fantastic music,
camp songs, old favorites, and space to breath, reset, and welcome the Holy Spirit
to keep speaking and leading us into the world.

Our PrayerGround is available in the worship space, as well as a staffed nursery just
outside of the sanctuary. Contact Leah with any questions.

Can’t join us in person? No problem! Worship is live streamed on Facebook and YouTube

Sunday, December 29, First Sunday of Christmas

Introduction

On the first Sunday of Christmas we find the boy Samuel and the boy Jesus, both in the temple, both growing in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and humankind. We too have returned to the house of God “to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God,” who has gifted us with a savior. As the festival continues, “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” It is Christmas, still.

Readings and Psalm

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26. Colossians 3:12-17, Luke 2:41-52

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First Sunday of Christmas, Tuesday. December 24th, Nativity of Our Lord I: Christmas Eve

Introduction

In winter’s deepest night, we welcome the light of the Christ child. Isaiah declares that the light of the long-promised king will illumine the world and bring endless peace and justice. Paul reminds us that the grace of God through Jesus Christ brings salvation to all people. The angels declare that Jesus’ birth is good and joyful news for everyone, including lowly shepherds. Filled with the light that shines in our lives, we go forth to share the light of Christ with the whole world.

Readings and Psalm

Titus 2:11-14, Luke 2:1-14 [15-20]

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Sunday, December 22, fourth Sunday of Advent

Introduction

Cradle and cross are inextricably connected on the fourth Sunday of Advent. Between a lovely tribute to the little town of Bethlehem and Mary’s magnificent song of praise, the letter to the Hebrews reminds us in no uncertain terms that Christ’s advent is for “the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” It is the kind of tension in which the church always lives as when in holy communion—with high delight—“we proclaim the Lord’s death.”

Readings and Psalms

Micah 5:2-5a, Luke 1:46b-55, Luke 1:39-45 [46-55]
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Sunday, December 15th, third Sunday of Advent

Introduction

Christ’s presence in our midst in the wonder of the holy supper is cause for singing. The nearness of the God in prayer, in every circumstance, is cause for rejoicing. The coming of one “more powerful” than John, even with a winnowing fork in hand, is good news—and cause for exultation—for us who are being saved. Great joy is the tone for the third Sunday of Advent.

Readings and Psalm

Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7 and Luke 3:7-18

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Sunday, December 8th, Second Sunday of Advent

Introduction

Forerunners and messengers advance the advent of our God. While John the baptizer’s voice in the wilderness may be the principal focus of the day, Malachi’s prophecy could as easily herald the coming Christ as forerunner of the Lord of hosts. Finally all the baptized are called to participate in the sharing of the gospel. In so doing we prepare the way for the coming of Jesus and assist all people in capturing a vision of the “salvation of God.”

Children’s Christmas Program

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Sunday, December 1st, First Sunday of Advent

Introduction

Advent is about the “coming days.” God’s people have always lived in great expectation, but that expectation finds specific, repeated enunciation in the texts appointed for these four weeks. The ancients anticipated a “righteous Branch to spring up for David.” The Thessalonians awaited “the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the saints.” Jesus’ contemporaries hoped for the time “to stand before the Son of Man.” With them we eagerly await the coming days: another Christmas celebration, a second coming, and the advent of Christ in word and supper.

Readings and Psalm

Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25:1-10. 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 Luke 21:25-36

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Sunday, November 24th, 27th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Even after Israel had experienced the vagaries of kings, the people still longed for a true king to set things right. He would have the king’s title of Anointed One (Messiah); he would be the “one like a human being” (Son of Man) given dominion in Daniel’s vision. Jesus is given these titles, even though he is nothing like an earthly king. His authority comes from the truth to which he bears witness, and those who recognize the truth voluntarily listen to him. We look forward to the day he is given dominion, knowing his victory will be the nonviolent victory of love.

Readings and Psalm

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-142 and Samuel 23:1-7

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Sunday, November 17th, 26th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

November begins with All Saints Day and ends in or near Advent, when we anticipate Christ’s coming again. It is fitting, then, that the readings today tell of the final resurrection and the end time. In the turmoil of hope, fear, and disbelief that these predictions provoke in us, Hebrews sounds a note of confident trust. Christ makes a way for us where there is no way, and we walk it confidently, our hearts and bodies washed in baptismal water, trusting the one who has promised forgiveness. The more we see the last day approaching, the more important it is to meet together to provoke one another to love.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 16, Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] 19-25. Mark 13:1-8

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Sunday, November 10th, 25th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Widows are visible everywhere in today’s readings. Jesus denounces those scribes who pray impressive prayers but devour widows’ houses. He commends the poor widow who in his view gave far more than the major donors. Jesus doesn’t see her simply as an object of compassion or charity. She, like the widow of Zarephath who shares her last bit of food with Elijah, does something of great importance.

Readings and Psalm

1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 146, and Mark 12:38-44

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Sunday, November 3rd, All Saints Sunday

Introduction

Of all three years of the lectionary cycle, this year’s All Saints readings have the most tears. Isaiah and Revelation look forward to the day when God will wipe away all tears; in John’s gospel, Jesus weeps along with Mary and all the gathered mourners before he demonstrates his power over death. On All Saints Day we celebrate the victory won for all the faithful dead, but we grieve for our beloved dead as well, knowing that God honors our tears. We bring our grief to the table and find there a foretaste of Isaiah’s feast to come.

Readings

Isaiah 25:6-9, Revelation 21:1-6a, John 11:32-44

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Sunday, October 27th, Reformation

Introduction

Can we pray the way Bartimaeus prays? People try to hush him up because by addressing Jesus as “Son of David” he is making a politically dangerous claim that Jesus is the rightful king. Could our prayers ever be heard as a threat to unjust powers that be? Bartimaeus won’t give up or go away quietly, but repeats his call for help more loudly. Do we ask so boldly? And are our prayers an honest answer to Jesus’ question, “What do you want me to do for you?”

Readings and Psalm

Jeremiah 31:7-9, Romans 3:19-28, and John 8:31-36

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Sunday, October 20th, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Today’s gospel starts with disciples obsessing over who will be closest to Jesus, leading to Jesus teaching his followers about God’s take on importance and power. Here Jesus makes it explicit that the reversal of values in God’s community is a direct challenge to the values of the dominant culture, where wielding power over others is what makes you great. When we pray “your kingdom come” we are praying for an end to tyranny and oppression. We pray this gathered around the cross, a sign of great shame transformed to be the sign of great honor and service.

Readings and Psalm

Isaiah 53:4-12, Psalm 91:9-16, and Mark 10:35-45

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Sunday, September 13th, 21st Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

The rich man who comes to ask Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life is a good man, sincere in his asking. Mark’s gospel is alone in saying that Jesus looked on him and loved him. Out of love, not as judgment, Jesus offers him an open door to life: sell all you own and give it to the poor. Our culture bombards us with the message that we will find life by consuming. Our assemblies counter this message with the invitation to find life by divesting for the sake of the other.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 90:12-17, Hebrews 4:12-16 and Mark 10:17-31

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Sunday, September 6th, 20th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Today’s gospel combines a saying that makes many of us uncomfortable with a story we find comforting. Jesus’ saying on divorce is another of his rejections of human legislation in favor of the original intent of God’s law. Jesus’ rebuke of the disciples who are fending off the children should challenge us as well. What does it mean to receive the kingdom of God as a child does?

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 8, Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12, Mark 10:2-16

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Sunday September 29th,19th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Someone who isn’t part of Jesus’ own circle is casting out demons in Jesus’ name, and the disciples want him stopped. They appeal to Jesus, as Joshua did to Moses about the elders who prophesied without official authorization. Like Moses, Jesus refuses to see this as a threat. Jesus welcomes good being done in his name, even when it is not under his control. The circle we form around Jesus’ word must be able to value good being done in ways we wouldn’t do it, by people we can’t keep tabs on.

Readings and Psalm

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 and Psalm 19:7-14

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Sunday September 22nd, 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Today we hear James warn against selfish ambition, while the disciples quarrel over which one of them is the greatest. Jesus tells them the way to be great is to serve. Then, to make it concrete, he puts in front of them a flesh-and-blood child. We are called to welcome the children God puts in front of us, to make room for them in daily interaction, and to give them a place of honor in the assembly.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 54 and James 3:13—4:3, 7-8a

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Sunday September 15th, 17th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Three weeks ago we heard Peter’s confession of faith as told in John’s gospel. This week we hear Mark’s version, when Peter says, “You are the Messiah.” In John, the stumbling block is Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh, given for the life of the world. In Mark too the scandal has to do with Jesus’ words about his own coming death, and here Peter himself stumbles over Jesus’ words. But Jesus is anointed (the meaning of messiah) in Mark only on the way to the cross (14:3); so we are anointed in baptism with the sign of the cross.

Readings and Psalm

Isaiah 50:4-9a, James 3:1-12, Mark 8:27-38

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Sunday September 8th, 16th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

James tells us to stop showing favoritism in the assembly, treating the rich visitor with more honor than the poor one. Jesus himself seems to show partiality in his first response to the Syrophoenician woman in today’s gospel. Was he testing her faith in saying Gentiles don’t deserve the goods meant for God’s children? Or was he speaking out of his human worldview, but transcended those limits when she took him by surprise with her reply? Either way, the story tells us that God shows no partiality. Everyone who brings a need to Jesus is received with equal honor as a child and heir.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 146. James 2:1-10 [11-13] 14-17 and Mark 7:24-37

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Sunday, September 1st, 15th Sunday After Pentecost

Introduction

Jesus protests against human customs being given the weight of divine law, while the essence of God’s law is ignored. True uncleanness comes not from external things, but from the intentions of the human heart. Last week Jesus told us “the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life” (John 6:63). Now James says God has given us birth by the word of truth. We who were washed in the word when we were born in the font return to it every Sunday to ask God to create in us clean hearts.

Readings and Psalm

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9

Psalm 15

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

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Sunday, August 25th, 14th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

In today’s gospel many people take offense at Jesus’ invitation to eat his flesh and drink his blood; even many of Jesus’ disciples peel off. This is the backdrop in John’s gospel for Peter’s confession of faith. “To whom can we go?” asks Peter, in words we sometimes sing just before the gospel is read. “You have the words of eternal life.” In order to take such a stand, as Peter and Joshua did, Paul tells us to arm ourselves with the word of God. We pray in the Spirit that we might be bold ambassadors of the gospel.

Readings and Psalm

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18, Psalm 34:15-22 and John 6:56-69
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Sunday, August 18th, 13th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Wisdom prepares a feast, sets her table, and invites all to come and eat her bread and drink her wine. The first chapter of John’s gospel owes much to the biblical tradition that imagined Wisdom as existing before anything was created and having a role in the work of creation. Christ, the wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24), today invites us to eat his flesh and drink his blood. John’s gospel includes no account of the institution of the Lord’s supper, but here we can't help hearing Jesus’ words as an invitation to the meal of bread and wine we share.

Readings and Psalm

Proverbs 9:1-6, Ephesians 5:15-20 and John 6:51-58

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Sunday, August 11th, 12th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Jesus says that the bread he gives for the life of the world is his flesh, and whoever eats this bread has eternal life now and will be raised on the last day. In Ephesians Paul tells us what this life Jesus gives us looks like, this life we live as those marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit in baptism. We live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us. The whole purpose of life is giving yourself for the other.

Readings and Psalm

1 Kings 19:4-8, Psalm 34:1-8, Ephesians 4:25—5:2, John 6:35, 41-51

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Sunday, August 4th, 11th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Apparently not satisfied by Jesus’ feeding of thousands, some who were there press him for a sign of his power; perhaps it is daily manna they want. As always in John’s gospel when people want a sign, Jesus offers himself. He is the bread come from heaven to give life to the world. He calls us to come to him and believe in him, and through that relationship to know the one who sent him.

Readings and Psalm

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15, Ephesians 4:1-16 and John 6:24-35

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Sunday, July 28th, 10th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Today is the first of five Sundays with gospel readings from John 6, the first four of which focus on Jesus as bread of life. Today Jesus feeds thousands of people with five loaves and two fish. What we have, what we bring to Jesus’ table, seems like it is not nearly enough to meet all the needs we see around us. But it is not the adequacy of our supplies or our skills that finally makes the difference: it is the power of Jesus working in the littlest and least to transform this world into the world God desires, a world where all the hungry are satisfied.

Readings and Psalm

2 Kings 4:42-44, Psalm 145:10-18, and John 6:1-21

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Sunday, July 21st, 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Mark’s gospel makes clear how great is the press of the crowd, with its countless needs to be met, on Jesus and his disciples. Yet in today’s gospel Jesus advises his disciples to get away and rest, to take care of themselves. Sometimes we think that when others are in great need we shouldn’t think of ourselves at all; but Jesus also honors the caregivers’ need. We are sent from Christ’s table to care for others and for ourselves.

Readings and Psalm

Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23 and Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

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Sunday, July14th, 8th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

When Amos reports his vision of God judging Israel for its mistreatment of the poor, he becomes a threat to the power of the priests and the king. John the Baptist also speaks truth to power, and Herod has him killed. In Herod’s fear that Jesus is John returned from the dead, we may hear hope for the oppressed: all the prophets killed through the ages are alive in Jesus. We are called to witness to justice in company with them, and to proclaim God’s saving love.

Readings and Psalm

Ephesians 1:3-14, Mark 6:14-29

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Sunday, July 7th, 7th Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Jesus does great deeds of power and gives his disciples authority over demons. Yet none of this power is unilateral; it all must be received by faith. Jesus asks his disciples to go out without money or supplies, so that they will be dependent on how others receive them. When we are sent from the assembly to witness and to heal, we are asked to be vulnerable, to be dependent on the reception of others. The Spirit always operates in the “between”: between Jesus and his Abba, between Jesus and us, between you and me, between us and those to whom we are sent.

Readings and Psalm

Ezekiel 2:1-5, Mark 6:1-13

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Sunday, June 30th, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

A woman finds healing by touching Jesus’ cloak, and a girl is restored to life when he takes her by the hand. In both cases a boundary is crossed: in Jesus’ time the hemorrhaging woman was considered ritually unclean, polluting others by her touch, and anyone who touched a corpse also became unclean. In Mark’s gospel Jesus breaks down barriers, from his first meal at a tax collector’s house to his last breath on the cross as the temple curtain is torn in two. We dare to touch Jesus in our “uncleanness” and to live as a community that defines no one as an outsider.

Readings and Psalm

Lamentations 3:22-33, Psalm 30 and Mark 5:21-43

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Sunday, June 23rd, Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation! Now we are in the storm, the boat almost swamped; but Jesus is here now, and when we call him, he will calm the storm. Even the wind and waves listen to him as they would to their creator. We also listen to him and are called to believe in the power of God’s word in him, a power greater than all that we fear.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32, Mark 4:35-41
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Sunday, June 16th, Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

The mustard seed becomes a great shrub that shelters the birds, recalling ancient images of the tree of life. We’d expect a cedar or a sequoia, but Jesus finds the power of God better imaged in a tiny, no-account seed. It’s not the way we expect divine activity to look. Yet the tree of life is here, in the cross around which we gather, the tree into which we are grafted through baptism, the true vine that nourishes us with its fruit in the cup we share. It may not appear all that impressive, but while nobody’s looking it grows with a power beyond our understanding.

Readings and Psalm

Ezekiel 17:22-24, Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15, 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 [11-13] 14-17, Mark 4:26-34

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Sunday, June 9th, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

A house divided against itself cannot stand. Jesus makes this observation in light of charges that he is possessed. He is possessed, not by a demon, but by the Holy Spirit. We who have received the Holy Spirit through baptism have been joined to Christ’s death and resurrection and knit together in the body of Christ. Those with whom we sing and pray this day are Jesus’ family. With them we go forth in peace to do the will of God.

Readings and Psalm

Genesis 3:8-15, Psalm 130, Mark 3:20-35

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Sunday, June 2nd Sunday after Pentecoat

Introduction

Deuteronomy makes clear that sabbath-keeping is meant for the welfare of all. God delivered the Israelites out of slavery, so they should observe this freedom with a day of rest. No one should work seven days a week; even slaves and foreigners should be able to rest. Yet human beings can turn even the most liberating religious practice into a life-destroying rule. Jesus does not reject sabbath-keeping, but defends its original life-enhancing meaning. Our worship and our religious way of life are to lead to restoration: the hungry being fed and the sick being healed.

Readings and Psalm

Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Psalm 81:1-10, Mark 2:23—3:6

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Sunday, May 26th, The Holy Trinity, first Sunday after Pentecost

Introduction

When we say God is the triune God, we are saying something about who God is beyond, before, and after the universe: that there is community within God. Our experience of this is reflected in Paul’s words today. When we pray to God as Jesus prayed to his Abba (an everyday, intimate parental address), the Spirit prays within us, creating between us and God the same relationship Jesus has with the one who sent him.

Readings and Psalm

1 Samuel 2:1-10, Romans 12:9-16, Luke 1:39-57
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Sunday, May 19th, Day of Pentecost

Introduction

Fifty days after Easter, we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. Crossing all boundaries that would separate us, the Spirit brings the wideness of God’s mercy to places we least expect it—to a crowd of strangers of different lands and tongues, to dry bones, to our weak hearts. Jesus promises his disciples that they will be accompanied by the Holy Spirit, and that this Spirit reveals the truth. We celebrate that we too have been visited with this same Spirit. Guided by the truth, we join together in worship, and then disperse to share the fullness of Christ’s love with the world.

Readings and Psalm

Acts 2:1-21, Romans 8:22-27, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
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Sunday, May 12, Seventh Sunday of Easter

Introduction

The gospel for Easter’s seventh Sunday is always taken from the long prayer Jesus prays for his followers in John’s gospel on the night before his death, and always includes Jesus’ desire that his followers will be one as he and the Father are one. This oneness is not mere doctrinal agreement or institutional unity, but mutual abiding, interpenetrating life, mutual love, and joy. This oneness is the work of the Spirit whom we have received but also await. Come, Holy Spirit!

Readings and Psalm

Acts 1:15-17, 21-26, Psalm 1, John 17:6-19

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Sunday, May 5th, Sixth Sunday of Easter

Introduction

• This Sunday’s image of the life the risen Christ shares with us is the image of friendship. We are called to serve others as Jesus came to serve; but for John’s gospel, the image of servanthood is too hierarchical, too distant, to capture the essence of life with Christ. Friendship captures the love, the joy, the deep mutuality of the relationship into which Christ invites us. The Greeks believed that true friends are willing to die for each other. This is the mutual love of Christian community commanded by Christ and enabled by the Spirit.

  Readings

  Acts 10:44-48, 1 John 5:1-6, John 15:9-17

  
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Sunday, April 28th, Fifth Sunday After Easter

Introduction

This Sunday’s image of how the risen Christ shares his life with us is the image of the vine. Christ the vine and we the branches are alive in each other, in the mystery of mutual abiding described in the gospel and the first letter of John. Baptism makes us a part of Christ’s living and life-giving self and makes us alive with Christ’s life. As the vine brings food to the branches, Christ feeds us at his table. We are sent out to bear fruit for the life of the world.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 22, 1 John 4:7-21 and John 15:1-8

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Sunday, April 21st, Fourth Sunday After Easter

Introduction

The image of the good shepherd shows us how the risen Christ brings us to life. It is the relationship between the shepherd and the sheep, one of mutual knowledge and love, that gives the shepherd authority. The shepherd’s willingness to lay down his life for the sheep shows his love. First John illustrates what it means to lay down our lives for one another by the example of sharing our wealth with any sibling in need.

Readings and Psalm

Acts 4:5-12, John 3:16-24, John 10:11-18

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Sunday, April 14th, Third Sunday After Easter

Introduction

The gospel for the third Sunday of Easter is always one in which the risen Christ shares food with the disciples, meals that are the Easter template for the meal we share each Sunday. In today’s gospel, Jesus both shares the disciples’ food and shows them the meaning of his suffering, death, and resurrection through the scriptures, the two main elements of our Sunday worship.

Readings and Psalm

Psalm 4, John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48

*Worship Bulletin: page 4, Canticle of Praise is ELW #723

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Sunday, April 7th, Second Sunday of Easter

Introduction

The Easter season is a week of weeks, seven Sundays when we play in the mystery of Christ’s presence, mostly through the glorious Gospel of John. Today we gather with the disciples on the first Easter, and Jesus breathes the Spirit on us. With Thomas we ask for a sign, and Jesus offers us his wounded self in the broken bread. From frightened individuals we are transformed into a community of open doors, peace, forgiveness, and material sharing such that no one among us is in need.

Readings and Psalm

Acts 4:32-35, 1 John 1:1--2:2, John 20:19-31

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Sunday March 31st: Resurrection of Our Lord: Easter Day

Alleluia! Christ is risen!  Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Christ is risen! Jesus is alive, and God has swallowed up death forever. With Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, we may feel astonished and confused, unsure of what to make of the empty tomb. But this is why we gather: to proclaim, witness, praise, and affirm the liberating reality of Christ’s death and resurrection. In word and feast, we celebrate God’s unending love, and depart to share this good news with all the world. Alleluia!

Land Acknowledgement
Creator, you made all people of every land. It is our responsibility to give thanks and respect to those who first occupied this land we are upon. At All Saints we give thanks to the Wahpekute (Wah-peh-kue-teh) Dakota, the first people of this land. We offer our respect to those ancestors who may be interred in this land, and are thankful for the gifts of the People of the land. For all these things we give thanks. Amen.

Readings and Psalm

Acts 10:34-43, Psalm 118 Selected vs from The Message, John 20:1-18

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Friday March 29th: Good Friday

Greeting

Today is a painful day in the story of our faith. We learn about betrayal, abuse, and murder. We feel heartbreak and grief. We hear echoes of the most painful parts of our own lives, the lives of those we love, and the lives of our neighbors who suffer around the world. As our perception adjusts to the growing darkness with each extinguished candle, our hearts adjust to the deepening discomfort of the Passion story. As we witness new and deeper things in the dark, our hearts perceive moments of kind- ness, acts of compassion, and instances of forgiveness amid the pain.

You will have time for reflection during each part of the evening. You can draw, color, or write on each page in this booklet. You may also look at some of the art that has been created during Lent that is shown on the screen. You may also reflect through song, as we have a song that will be sung during each section.Tonight, the story of Jesus’ death will remind us not only of our ultimate liberation from death, but also of the quiet joy our Creator holds for us when we cannot carry it ourselves. As Christians, we hold the grief of this day alongside the goodness of God. We know this story is not the end.

Readings:

Mark 14:1-9, Mark 14:10-26, Mark 14:32-46, Mark 14:53-54, 66-72, Mark 15: 16-40, Mark 15: 42-47

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Sunday, March 24th: Palm Sunday

This week, the center of the church’s year, is one of striking contrasts: Jesus rides into Jerusalem surrounded by shouts of glory, only to be left alone to die on the cross, abandoned by even his closest friends. Mark’s gospel presents Jesus in his complete human vulnerability: agitated, grieved, scared, forsaken. Though we lament Christ’s suffering and all human suffering, we also expect God’s salvation: in the wine and bread, Jesus promises that his death will mark a new covenant with all people. We enter this holy week thirsty for the completion of God’s astonishing work.

Procession with Palms

Mark 11:1-11, Psalm 31:9-16

Readings and Psalms

Philippians 2:5-11, Mark 14:1--15:47

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Sunday March 17th: Fifth Sunday in Lent

God promises Jeremiah that a “new covenant” will be made in the future: a covenant that will allow all the people to know God by heart. The church sees this promise fulfilled in Christ, who draws all people to himself when he is lifted up on the cross. Our baptismal covenant draws us to God’s heart through Christ and draws God’s love and truth into our hearts. We join together in worship, sharing in word, song, and meal, and leave strengthened to share God’s love with all the world.

Readings and Psalms

Jeremiah 31:31- 34, Psalm 51:1-12, Psalm 119:9-16, Hebrews 5:5-10 and John 12:20-33

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Sunday March 10th: Fourth Sunday in Lent

The fourth of the Old Testament promises providing a baptismal lens this Lent is the promise God makes to Moses: those who look on the bronze serpent will live. In today’s gospel Jesus says he will be lifted up on the cross like the serpent, so that those who look to him in faith will live. When we receive the sign of the cross in baptism, that cross becomes the sign we can look to in faith for healing, for restored relationship to God, for hope when we are dying.

Readings and Psalm

Numbers 21:4-9, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22, Ephesians 2:1-10, and John 3:14-21

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Sunday, March 3rd: 3rd Sunday in Lent

The third covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the central one of Israel’s history: the gift of the law to those God freed from slavery. The commandments begin with the statement that because God alone has freed us from the powers that oppressed us, we are to let nothing else claim first place in our lives. When Jesus throws the merchants out of the temple, he is defending the worship of God alone and rejecting the ways commerce and profit-making can become our gods. The Ten Commandments are essential to our baptismal call: centered first in God’s liberating love, we strive to live out justice and mercy in our communities and the world.

Readings and Psalm: Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 19, 1 Corinthians 1:18-25, John 2:13-22

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Sunday February 25th: 2nd Sunday in Lent

Introduction

The second covenant in this year’s Lenten readings is the one made with Abraham and Sarah: God’s promise to make them the ancestors of many, with whom God will remain in everlasting covenant. Paul says this promise comes to all who share Abraham’s faith in the God who brings life into being where there was no life. We receive this baptismal promise of resurrection life in faith. Sarah and Abraham receive new names as a sign of the covenant, and we too get new identities in baptism, as we put on Christ.

Readings and Psalm: Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16, Psalm 22:23-31, Romans 4:13-25, Mark 8:31-38

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Sunday, February 18th: 1st Sunday in Lent

On Ash Wednesday the church began its journey toward baptismal immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ. This year, the Sundays in Lent lead us to focus on five covenants God makes in the Hebrew Scriptures and to use them as lenses through which to view baptism. First Peter connects the way God saved Noah’s family in the flood with the way God saves us through the water of baptism. The baptismal covenant is made with us individually, but the new life we are given in baptism is for the sake of the whole world.

Readings and Psalm: Genesis 9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Peter 3:18-22, Mark 1:9-15

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Wednesday, February 14th: Ash Wednesday

On Ash Wednesday we begin our forty-day journey toward Easter with a day of fasting and repentance. Marking our foreheads with dust, we acknowledge that we die and return to the earth. At the same time, the dust traces the life-giving cross indelibly marked on our foreheads at baptism. While we journey through Lent to return to God, we have already been reconciled to God through Christ. We humbly pray for God to make our hearts clean while we rejoice that “now is the day of salvation.” Returning to our baptismal call, we more intentionally bear the fruits of mercy and justice in the world.

Readings and Psalm: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Isaiah 58:1-12 (alternate), Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b--6:10, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

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Sunday, February 11th: Transfiguration of Our Lord

Introduction

The Sundays after Epiphany began with Jesus’ baptism and end with three disciples’ vision of his transfiguration. In Mark’s story of Jesus’ baptism, apparently only Jesus sees the Spirit descending and hears the words from heaven. But now Jesus’ three closest friends hear the same words naming him God’s Beloved. As believers, Paul writes, we are enabled to see the God-light in Jesus’ face, because the same God who created light in the first place has shone in our hearts to give us that vision. The light of God’s glory in Jesus has enlightened us through baptism and shines in us also for others to see.

Readings and Psalm: 2 Kings 2:1-12, Psalm 50:1-6, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, Mark 9:2-9

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Sunday, February 4th: Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

In Isaiah the one God who sits above the earth and numbers the stars also strengthens the powerless. So in Jesus’ healing work we see the hand of the creator God, lifting up the sick woman to health and service (diakonia). Like Simon’s mother-in-law, we are lifted up and healed to serve. Following Jesus, we strengthen the powerless; like Jesus, we seek to renew our own strength in quiet times of prayer.

Readings and Psalm: Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39

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Sunday, January 28th: Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

In Isaiah the one God who sits above the earth and numbers the stars also strengthens the powerless. So in Jesus’ healing work we see the hand of the creator God, lifting up the sick woman to health and service (diakonia). Like Simon’s mother-in-law, we are lifted up and healed to serve. Following Jesus, we strengthen the powerless; like Jesus, we seek to renew our own strength in quiet times of prayer.

Readings and Psalm: Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23, Mark 1:29-39

Sunday, January 21st: Third Sunday after Epiphany

As we continue through the time after Epiphany, stories of the call to discipleship show us the implications of our baptismal calling to show Christ to the world. Jesus begins proclaiming the good news and calling people to repentance right after John the Baptist is arrested for preaching in a similar way. Knowing that John was later executed, we see at the very outset the cost of discipleship. Still, the two sets of brothers leave everything they have known and worked for all their lives to follow Jesus and fish for people.

Readings and Psalm: Jonah 3:1-5, 10, Psalm 62:5-12, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, Mark 1:14-20

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Sunday, January 14th: Second Sunday after Epiphany

All the baptized have a calling in God’s world. God calls not just pastors and deacons but also the youngest child, like Samuel. The story of the calling of Nathanael plays with the idea of place. Nathanael initially dismisses Jesus because he comes from Nazareth. But where we come from isn’t important; it’s where—or rather whom—we come to. Jesus refers to Jacob, who had a vision in a place he called “the house of God, and . . . the gate of heaven” (Gen. 28:17). Jesus says he himself is the place where Nathanael will meet God.

Readings and Psalm: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 [11-20], Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, John 1:43-51

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Sunday, January 7th: Baptism of Our Lord

Our re-creation in baptism is an image of the Genesis creation, where the Spirit of God moved over the waters. Both Mark’s gospel and the story in Acts make clear that it is the Spirit’s movement that distinguishes Jesus’ baptism from John’s. The Spirit has come upon us as upon Jesus and the Ephesians, calling us God’s beloved children and setting us on Jesus’ mission to re-create the world in the image of God’s vision of justice and peace.

Readings and Psalm: Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1:4-11

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