Worship Preview 9.7.25 "The Blood Cries Out"

Community Office Hours this week! Would you like to chat with the Pastor, perhaps about this column, or share a time of prayer, but you’re not comfortable coming to the church? He totally gets it! So - Monday afternoons Pastor Christopher will be at a local location with open time to visit with you. This week he’ll be back at Common Grounds from 2pm and 4pm. Come grab a drink or snack and say hello!

Sunday evening, Sept 7^th – Our Annual Fish Fry is back – we’ll have all the good fixin’s and some great fellowship, beginning at 5:30pm. Bring a friend! 

Wednesday, September 10th, Feeding Families in His Name: A free, no obligation meal is served “to-go” style from underneath our portico from 5:30-6:30pm each Wednesday, prepared each week by our members as well as several area churches and community groups. If you would like to support this ministry, you can make donations online at: www.firstumcfortscott.org/feedingfamiliesdonation. Thank you.

Worship This Sunday: 10:30am –  “The Blood Cries Out.”   

Scriptures: Genesis 1-2:4 and Matthew 25:34-46. Rev. Christopher Eshelman preaching. 

I started my article in our September newsletter with this reflection: “What a time to be alive. I read the news and often all I can find are deep sighs. The caustic cruelty, the violence, the greed that is on display surely causes Jesus to weep. It has become basically impossible to keep a prayer list “timely” with the latest mass shooting, harmful decision, or “natural” disaster, and yet generic categories seem so hollow. How do we respond? With faith and with action. We are not the first generation to live in troubled and troubling times. The stories of the Bible were told and later written down – and you and I are called to faith and witness – for “just such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14). I, personally, am reading a lot of the Prophets, the Psalms, and the writings of mystics and theologians, people who deeply encounter God through the centuries – Julian of Norwich, Hildegard Von Bingen, St. Francis of Assisi, or our contemporaries Henri Nouwen, Karen Baker-Fletcher, Richard Rohr, Delores Williams, Rachael Held Evans. People who have encountered deep suffering, imponderable questions, and transcendent hope. I am seeking to take the long view, and to act – because “faith without works is dead.” (James 2:14-26). We plant seeds, we water seeds already planted, and we do so in Christ’s name, not our own. (see 1 Corinthians 3). Some days I’m managing well, some days I feel overwhelmed, and some days I fall woefully short of the kind of actions and words I think God calls me to offer. On those days, I am reminded that God’s grace is sufficient (see 2 Cor. 12:9) and that even Christ had moments … (I’m particularly fond of reflecting on the stories of Mark 9. The awe and wonder of the Transfiguration, the hope, failure, and frustration in the valley (“how long must I be with this faithless generation?!”), the father’s confession (“I believe, help thou my unbelief!”), the healing and the response to the disciples awestruck question about their own inability - “This kind comes out only through prayer.” Like those disciples, we are called to prayer, to reliance on God – and we are called to action, even when we are frustrated, uncertain, and overwhelmed.”

Sunday, we’ll look at our brokenness and hear Jesus’ call to action. We’ll begin with the story of Cain and Abel – the sons of Adam and Eve present offerings to the Lord – but Abel’s offering is favored. Cain is enraged and murders his brother! “Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen, your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!” Then there is a scene of both judgment and of mercy. 

Perhaps it’s because I’m the older brother and I know my younger brother gets away with everything… but I long struggled with this story. Oh, sure, I know offing my brother would be wrong… but… why are the offerings considered different? Cain even goes first! Gradually I came to understand Abel brings “firstlings of his flock, their fat portions” meaning the first and best that he has to offer is given to God. Cain, on the other hand, gives – but its not necessarily the best of what he has. I reflect… and now I sometimes struggle with this story for a different reason! 

In Matthew, Jesus is likewise challenging. How many of us do these words convict – when do we see Jesus hungry, sick, or naked? We’re sure we’d respond – and Jesus telld us we see him in each other, in our neighbors, in the ones that make us uncomfortable… The ones we don’t’ think are deserving… and Jesus is looking for our response. We are our brother’s keeper!

Challenging texts – yet we are not on our own. us. God offers us his first and best – Jesus, the firstborn of creation, the alpha and omega, the one who through all things were made, becomes flesh and dwells among us. On the last night of his human life, in which he has exemplified the way we are called to live, he knows he is about to be betrayed, to suffer on a Roman cross, rejected and despised by his own people. He gathers his closest followers, he takes ordinary bread, gives thanks to his Father. He breaks the bread and gives it to all who are with him saying “take, eat, this is my body” – he follows with the cup, declaring this his own blood. His own life’s essence, offered “for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.” And it is offered to us. A way not of guilt, but of liberation – enabling us to live in the way Jesus calls us. In these broken and divided times, you, yes you, are invited to Christ’s table. The blood cries out, not for revenge, but for liberation, for renewal, for resurrection – the gift of eternal life that begins here and now. 

If any of the above intrigues you, we invite you to explore the hope and presence of Christ together with us at 10:30am each Sunday. 301 S. National here in Fort Scott. Blessings on your journey!