SUNDAY (10/08) 9:15 Worship: New Member Sunday 10:30 The Organizing Cycle in Action forum 10:30 Sunday School TUESDAY (10/10) 10:30 Bible Reading 1:00 Property Committee 7:00 Lydia WEDNESDAY(10/11) 4:15 Children s Comm. Choir 5:00 Knitters, Library 5:15 Tintinnabulum 6:15 Adult Bell Choir 7:15 Worship THURSDAY(10/12) 5:00 Executive Committee FRIDAY(10/13) 10-3 FCF at Immanuel Lutheran SATURDAY (10/14) 9:00 Knitters, Library SUNDAY (10/15) 9:15 Worship: Bread for the World Sunday 10:30 The One-to-One forum 10:30 Sunday School 16
For Dale Etheridge, Marilyn Kerens, Barb Larsen, Amy Lippens, Fern Schilling, David Schmidt, Ruby Schubert, Verna Unger, and Payton Williams. For the homebound: Darlene Clausen, Jean Luckritz, Gene and Edie Ottens, Jennette Paulson, Marilyn Pelisek, and Sherry Walling. For those in care facilities: Betty Chekal, Clayton Cook, Marian Edwards, Marilyn Enright, Ellen Felderman, Bob (Roberta Gee s brother), Joan Guidebeck, Evelyn Hubbart, Marge Marlowe, Vern Paulson, Laura Turner, and Peggy Young. Children s Bulletins and Large Print Gospel Readings are available on the back table of the sanctuary near the bulletins. The Sunday school children are being asked to help pack school kits on Oct. 8th. October 15th will be a time of blessing the kits and quilts during church service. Then on the 18th we will be packing the kits & quilts for delivery to Cedar Rapids and on to LWR in Minneapolis. Thanks again for your joining us in this venture! WELCA Altar flowers have been donated this week by Donna Jean Holste in memory of her loving husband Bob Holste. Join us on Friday, Oct. 20th at 6:30 for book study to see what the Bible has to say about social justice (in Lounge). The books will be handed out at this first session. Call John Montieth at 563-564-7897 if you have any questions. Pizza Hut and L Arche Clinton Team up for a fundraising event! Come enjoy your favorite Pizza Hut meal 1616 N 2nd St., Clinton Monday, Oct. 16 5-7 p.m. Dine-in or Carry-out Mention L Arche Clinton or The Arch and we will receive 20% of the sales to benefit The L Arche Clinton Community 2 15
Why People Give Some give out of gratitude. They believe God has blessed them. Life is good. Out of gratitude they give. Some give out of responsibility. They believe that everything finally belongs to God that they are managers for God. They use what they reasonably need for themselves, but they use some for others. Out of responsibility they give. Some give out of loyalty. They see the church as their extended family, and they want to be loyal to that family. Out of loyalty they give for the well-being of their church family. Some give to express their inward commitment to God. They believe that religion of the heart must be given hands and feet. Giving is a concrete way of doing so. Out of a desire to express outwardly their inner convictions they give. Perhaps one or more of the above describe your reason (s) for giving. Or perhaps you have reasons that are uniquely your own. Whatever the case, remember what Jesus promised: when we invest ourselves and our resources beyond ourselves, we discover life at a richer and deeper level. As St. Paul expressed,...remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive - Acts 20:35 14 WELCOME GATHERING PRELUDE All Creatures of Our God and King/Shaker Song by Rachel T. Porter CONFESSION & FORGIVENESS...let us confess our sin against God and each other. Silence for reflection and self-examination. God of wholeness, God of all, we confess that sin is bigger and more brutal than we can manage or imagine. Violence hides in plain sight: violence against the poor, violence against people not like us, and violence against creation itself. Our neighbors suffer and die. We suffer and die. Forgive us and heal us. Turn our hearts and efforts toward creating true community and wholeness in body, spirit, and civic life both among us and our neighbors. Show us what to change. Make us bold and powerful to change it. Through the crucified and living One, your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen....For you, this congregation, and the whole world. Amen. GATHERING SONG Red Book 835 All Creatures Worship God Most High GREETING The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. And also with you. 3
PSALM: Psalm 80:7-15 7Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine upon us, and we shall be saved. 8You have brought a vine out of Egypt; you cast out the nations and planted it. 9You cleared the ground for it; it took root and filled the land. 10The mountains were covered by its shadow and the towering cedar trees by its boughs. 11You stretched out its tendrils to the sea and its branches to the river. 12Why have you broken down its wall, so that all who pass by pluck off its grapes? 13The wild boar of the forest has ravaged it, and the beasts of the field have grazed upon it. 14Turn now, O God of hosts, look down from heaven; 15behold and tend this vine; preserve what your right hand has planted. PRAYER OF THE DAY Let s pray together. Beloved God, from you come all things that are good. Lead us by the inspiration of your Spirit to know those things that are right, and by your merciful guidance, help us to do them, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen. Faith on the Go Gracious God, you love us even when we do not love each other, you feed us even when we do not share our abundance, you forgive us even when we are unforgiving. We thank you for your blessings, and ask you to teach us to be more like your Son, Jesus. Amen Where did you see rejection today? Where did you see acceptance today? Matthew 21:33-46 The Parable of the Wicked Tenants Day 1 Matthew 21:33 34 Have you ever let something important in the care of another? What did you leave? How did it go? Day 2 Matthew 21:35 40 What do you think caused the tenants to act this way? Greed? Power? What would you do if it were your land? Day 3 Matthew 21:41 Unwilling to answer, they receive no answer! When have you been greedy with something that was not yours? What did you do to try to keep it? Day 4 Matthew 21:42-44 The chief priests and Pharisees understand the story, but they only see it from one angle. What stories have changed for you as your position in life has changed? Day 5 Matthew 21:45-46 Jesus points out a flaw in the thinking of the priests and Pharisees that they don t want to see. Why would they want to avoid arresting him? What might the crowds think if they did? Know that God loves and accepts you. 4 13
Weekly Household Devotions Time After Pentecost Year A - Lectionary 27 WORD Happy are the people to whom such blessings fall; happy are the people whose God is the Lord. Psalm 144:15 Looking Back... Sunday Matthew 21:33 46 The Parable of the Wicked Tenants Monday Psalm 144 Prayer Deliverance and Security Tuesday 1 Peter 2:4 10 The Chosen People Wednesday 2 Corinthians 5:17 21 Ministry of Reconciliation Looking Ahead... Thursday Psalm 23 The Divine Shepherd Friday 1 Peter 5:1 5, 12 14 Tending the Flock of God Saturday James 4:4 10 Friendship with the World Sunday Matthew 22:1 14 The Parable of the Wedding Banquet What Don t You See? The set-up is a common one Someone asks Jesus a question and he tells a story. As usual, the story seems simple, with an easy interpretation, which the chief priests and Pharisees are quick to articulate. The chief priests and Pharisees seem to understand the story from the point of view of the land owner, and they put themselves in that place. Jesus, however is telling a story where God is the land owner and the priests and Pharisees are the tenants not such a simple story any more! How should the priests and Pharisees judge themselves? What does Jesus story say about their authority? What judgments do we make in our lives and who do we judge? Do we, like the priests and Pharisees put ourselves on the moral high ground when we make those judgments? Do we always belong there? As you move through the world this week, try to think about your perspective. Why do you see the world the way that you do? What does your perspective hide from your own view? FAITHFORMATIONJOURNEYS.ORG* Did you miss a week? Download inserts at our website! 12 FIRST READING: Isaiah 5:1-7 1Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. 2He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. 3And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. 4What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? When I expected it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes? 5And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. 6I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah 5
are his pleasant planting; he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry! LAMB OF GOD Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God. SECOND READING: Philippians 3:4b-14 [Paul writes:] 4b If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. COMMUNION HYMNS Red Book 595 Jesus Loves Me Red Book 826 Thine the Amen Red Book 580 How Clear is Our Vocation PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION BLESSING SENDING DISMISSAL Go in peace. The Spirit sends us with Power. Thanks be to God. Word of God, word of life. Thanks be to God. POSTLUDE Lord, You Give the Great Commission by Michael Burkhardt 6 11
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Holy, Holy, Holy GOSPEL : Matthew 21:33-46 The holy gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you, O Lord....The gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ. SERMON Pastor Clark Olson-Smith HYMN OF THE DAY Red Book 342 There in God s Garden Eucharist Prayer...you draw us into a great and living mystery. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again....one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. LORD S PRAYER Lord, remember us in your kingdom and teach us to pray. Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on Earth as in Heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are Yours, now and forever. Amen. RECEPTION OF NEW MEMBERS Dale and Jeanne Etheridge live in Clinton, Iowa. They love dogs and are natural everyday evangelists. They are drawn to St. Paul because they experience it as a congregation focused on Jesus. Do you believe in God the Father? I trust my heart to God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God? I follow Jesus Christ, God s 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 to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, 10 7
he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead. OFFERTORY RESPONSE : Listen God is Calling Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit? I owe my life to the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. PRAYER OF INTERCESSIONS...Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great. CHILDREN S SERMON PEACE The peace of Christ be with you always. And also with you. ANNOUNCEMENTS OFFERTORY PRAYER GREAT THANKSGIVING MEAL OFFERING Jesus Loves Me by Lori Line 8 9