St. Andrew's Sunday Worship - Live August 18th, 2024

e e e e e e e are we on oh welcome good morning uh my name is Jennifer Frasier and the pastor here at St Andrews Presbyterian Church it is good to be in church with you this morning um welcome to all of you who are with us on the live stream joining us on the live stream it's good to be in worship with you as well um before we get started I have some announcements um we're gonna flip through that I'll I'll just uh while they're flipping through and finding it I'll just say you know we were out at the uh Pacific Pride yesterday Festival yesterday had a great time um I was think you know part of the reason why I what I said was that we go there to be sort of support of the lgbtq community truth is we just go because it's fun right we had a really great time it was fantastic just to talk to people and connect with people in our community so that was a really good time if we have the announcements so in your pews you'll see there should be two cards there's a yellow card that is our welcome card and a pink card that is our prayer card if you are here with us the first second third time or you would like to have a higher level of contact with the church you can fill out the yellow card you can put your name and contact information on there you can um request a to get on our email list or you can request a a call from the pastor and I would be happy to reach out so you can if if you fill that out put it in the offering plate as it goes by and we will get that there's also pink prayer cards there those are for if you have a prayer concern that you would like to lift up or a prayer of gratitude that you would like our prayer chain to lift up you can fill that out place it in the offering plate a as it goes by as well and that will get to our prayer chain you can also place it in the prayer request box in the back so if you are joining us on live stream you too can fill out these digital cards these cards digitally we have in the in the description of the video there are is a link you can go to that link and you can share your contact information and uh and ask to be put on our email list or have a contact with the pastor um if you would like to also put on a Prayer uh on that list you there's a space for you to do that and we will be happy to share that with our prayer chain and we would be happy to be in prayer with you so if you are online we would love to get to know that you're out there blessing of the backpack so we are doing blessing of the backpacks this this year um we will uh so if you are out at about and you uh are able to you can pick up a backpack or school supplies like a college ruled paper or pencils or uh those automatic pencils are really good as well and just bring it to church and on September 8th we will bless them and we are going to be sending them off with the promoturist who do work in this community uh fantastic work in this community and we've done work with them before for the food drive so and and uh um Marcel OA OA Rios will be here to share with us a little bit about the things that the promotores do in our community and to receive those backpacks and so we'll send them off with a blessing I'm really excited about this uh we are going to be having a new morning prayer service this is going to be every Thursday morning starting on September 12th from 10:00 a. to 11:00 am. with Janet art the Reverend Janet art uh this is going to involve all different types of forms of prayer whether it's Leo deina or artwork you know drawing in together or um even composing prayer poems like a Hau poem um it's an opportunity to be creative to be in communion with God and to be in communion with one another so keep that on your calendar September starting September 12th it'll be every week after that so morning prayer service choir potluck that is happening this Wednesday so if you are interested in the choir if if you're if you're dead set I'm doing the choir come you're going to get some of the music that we're going to be doing this year we'll have talk we'll talk through the schedule we'll go over um you know some of the expectations you will Ain will uh do her a little introduction of herself and if you're just curious you're not sure maybe you want to do the choir you're not really sure you can come and it's no commitment nobody's going to pressure you you can just find out a little bit more about it you can meet some of the people who do the choir get a sense of what it's like and get some information and if it if it fits for you that's great if it doesn't it's okay you just get a good meal so um those of you who are interested in coming and and bringing some food you can contact Linda caer Lind and she's looking at me like yeah Linda caer you can contact her let her know you can also just contact the office and let us know as well um that you're coming and that you're bringing food so serving this morning Kirk Greer is our liturgist this morning it is a blessing to lead worship with Kirk Michael padon ran is back there on doing the sound and the slides Aaron McKibben is leading Us in singing this morning Natasha Keno is on the piano it says Samson Keithley but actually it's Liam this morning doing the live stream um Liam has Liam your last name was Paul Liam Paul um so Liam Paul is back there doing the live stream we're really glad to have Liam back Bob Shapiro was our Usher and uh Porter Spencer was our greeter and had ruin and John ruin are doing the um Fellowship hour today and Julie Summers and twiler Greer are off for the kids so with that let us prepare our hearts to worship God [Music] [Music] [Music] Amen to that thank you Natasha good morning everybody will you please rise in body or spirit and join me in our call to worship we are called to love God with our hearts we will do so when we welcome those tossed aside by the world we are called to love God with our souls you'll do so when the Brokenness around us transforms us into a more compassionate people we are called to love God with our minds we will do so when we think less of our needs and see each person as our neighbor our sister our brother [Music] glor [Music] and Tre and and stars [Music] of The Joy adore the heart and sound and prister parent Childs on Earth and Friends of Greatful prise all to the for the great great all the peace on Earth and joy in heaven all [Music] to we know the lives we are called to lead offer hope Grace and peace with God yet we choose to walk down the wrong roads to Ste keep ourselves in thoughts unworthy join me as we confess Our Lives to God praying together please join me in our Unison prayer of confession followed by a Moment of Silence God of Grace we have so many rules in the back of our minds for others to follow that we often forget to Simply love them we are so convinced that those around us have sold their souls out of greed that that we do not notice the emptiness of our own we use words and actions which shatter the hearts of others as our slowly Wither from the lack of breath of your spirit merciful God forgive us for choosing to live the way we want rather than being the holy people of your hopes may we have nothing of our sleeves but offer all we have to others may we speak the words you give us as we share the good news of Grace may we seek to love you as completely and trustingly as Jesus did the Christ who loved us as sisters and brothers of your heart for [Music] Sanctuary pure and holy and true [Music] to be a Sanu pure andly and true with thanksgiv I'll be all Liv sctu for [Music] you friends nothing will deter God from sharing this good news with us we are heard we are forgiven we are offered new lives of service and Faith thanks to God who offers Justice not judgment who shares Grace with us not holds grudges against us we are forgiven amen May the peace of Christ be with you all and also with you having received the Peace of Christ let us share that peace with one another I'm start supp [Music] he came down that we may he came that we [Music] may that we he came down that we may have he came that we may hallelu [Music] forever he came down that we may he came down that we may have peace he came down that hallelu [Music] forever he came we Joy he came down we may Joy he came that we may Joy hallelu forever more Lord open our hearts and Minds by the power of your holy spirit that we may hear your word with joy amen our first scripture is Ruth chapter 3 veres 1-9 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her my daughter I need to seek some security for you so that it may be well with you now here is our Kinsman Boaz with whose young women you have been working see he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor now wash and anoint yourself and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking when he lies down observe the place where he lies then go and uncover his feet and lie down and he will tell you what to do she said to her all that you tell me I will do so she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed her when Boaz had eaten and drunk and he was in a contented mood he went to lie down at the end of the Heap of grain then she came quietly and uncovered his feet and lay down at midnight the man was startled and turned over and there lying at his feet was a woman he said who are you and she answered I am Ruth your servant spread your cloak over your servant for you are next of kin this ends the reading of the first scripture so before I continue with the second half of this chapter I'm going to bring us a little up to speed um where we are kind of set the stage for what's happening here um in chapter 3 so the first thing so we were you know we've been introduced to Ruth she uh is the daughter-in-law of Naomi Ruth and Ruth's Naomi's husband and two sons die in Moab Ruth is one of her daughters-in-law when she comes back to Bethlehem she tells her daughters-in-law go back home with your to your mother's house where you can find husbands um and Ruth refuses she insists on going back to Bethlehem with Naomi even though that future for them is very uncertain so they get to Bethlehem and they have nothing to eat so Ruth goes out to the fields to glean pieces of grain which are left in the corners of the field for the poor and as she's gleaning she meets the owner of the land Boaz well she doesn't realize it but Boaz is actually a male relative he is their redeemer according to the law he is required to um to assist them to purchase their land back so that they might have some resources this is a part of the uh the law of Israel but he doesn't do that he but he's very generous to her but he doesn't quite fulfill the law uh but he does let her glean in his field and he pours um extra uh extra uh barley out for her she takes it with her she brings it back and when Ruth goes back to her mother-in-law and says I have I I met this man Boaz in I was gleaning in his Fields he gave me all this and that's when Naomi says he is Our Redeemer so that's where we left off last week so this week um Ruth goes so Naomi instructs Ruth go go clean yourself get on your best outfit oo yourself with oil and after the barley when they're going to be taking the barley into the granaries and when and when men are done working they often drink then they'll lie down and go to sleep when they do make sure Nobody's around go up to Boaz uh take uh uncover his feet and lie down at his feet now feet in the in the Hebrew scriptures is as many of you probably know this it is a euphemism for male genitalia so if this looks suspicious it it is I mean I think the re the the author is suggesting to us that Ruth is going dressed as a prostitute in the middle of the night to lie down and uncover the feet of this land owner um and so we're sort of left with a question mark like what is going on here uh and then but but the interesting point to note is that Naomi says lay down at his feet and he will tell you what to do but that's not what happens here She lays down at his feet and when he wakes up she tells him what to do and what she tells him to do is to marry her she says cover me with your cloak um and that means that's an insinuation she's saying take me into your family marry me and so this is his response to that request Boaz says this is Ruth chapter 3: 10-18 Boaz says may you be blessed by the Lord my daughter this last instance of your loyalty is better than than the first you have not gone after young men whether poor or Rich and now my daughter do not be afraid I will do for you all that you ask for all the Assembly of my people know that you are a worthy woman but now though it is true that I am a near Kinsman there is another Kinsman more closely related than I remain this night and in the morning if he will act as next of kin for you good let him do so if he is not willing to act as next of kin for you then as the Lord lives I will act as next of Ken for you lie down until the morning so she lay at his feet until morning but got up before one person could recognize another for he said it must not be known that a woman came to the threshing floor then he said bring the cloak you are wearing at and hold it out so she held it and me and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her back then he went into the city she came to her mother-in-law who said how did things go with you my daughter then she told her all the man had done for her saying he gave me these six measures of barley for he said do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed she replied wait my daughter until you learn how the matter turns out for the man will not rest but will settle the matter today this is the word of the Lord I'm going to start today with a question you don't have to answer the question I just want you to consider it for a moment are you afraid of the future the future is a place that is shrouded in a fog of uncertainty we can worry about what the future has in store for our bodies our finances our country considering how much we do not know about the future it seems reasonable that we would have some anxiety about it as my mother got older she used to say she had trouble sleeping at night and I would saywell what's keeping you up and she would saywell I was worried about you and and my response was well that's ridiculous I'm fine why would you be worried about me but now I think I understand as she got closer to the end of her life she knew she wasn't going to be around to help me if something happened she worried about about the unknown future that was going to come into being long after she was gone that's a common fear among the dying will my spouse will my children will my grandchildren be okay after I'm gone but you don't have to be at the end of your life to be concerned about what lies ahead I have a friend and a colleague named Allison Harrington Allison is the pastor of Southside Presbyterian church in Tucson now Tucson is near the border as you know and it's out in the middle of desert and when you live near the border out in the middle of the desert it seems that you are much more aware of what it looks like when a government breaks down not because the government of Tucson ever breaks down but because your neighbors to the South live with that reality all the time and you're constantly exposed to that particularly near the border and so Southside is this church that has this long history starting at the turn of the 20th century back in 1900 they have this long history of providing aid for migrants and refugees kind of like Ruth and Naomi now these people who are coming over the Border are people who are fleeing political repression or Civil War or economic crisis and helping refugees is just one of the ways that South side lives out its faith and Allison is a dedicated leader in this ministry so one Summer She and I and Anne Conlin who's the pastor at First Presbyterian at Santa Barbara we were all in um Albuquerque at this week-long preaching Retreat up at ghost Ghost Ranch if any of you are familiar with Ghost Ranch it was a beautiful starry night when we were sitting around you know it's up in the high deserts there was a storm earlier in the day and so the air was clear and cool and we just had dinner and we were all sitting around it was one of those times when you start to open up and Allison said something that stayed with me she said I am genuinely afraid that one day my children's children will be refugees themselves if that comes to pass who will be there to help them Civil War ecological crisis economic collapse these are all possibilities that lie within that deep fog of the future and they're standing there alongside the sister possibilities of prosperity and Innovation and thriving societies and peaceful coexistence and we have no idea what is coming and in what order the future will forever be uncertain to us and so again it's normal and natural to have some anxiety about the future I don't think there's a name for this kind of fearless genuine legitimate fear of the unknown future but I believe it's real and it affects us whether we're conscious of it or not it's what haunted Allison in her work it's what kept my mother up at night it's what motivates people to buy boatloads of insurance or to spend too many hours watching the news or to buy supplements that promis to prevent serious ailments all of these are efforts to prepare for the unknown but if you can get in touch with this fear this fear that's in all of us even just a little bit don't wallow in it or get overwhelmed by it but just touch into it acknowledge it for a moment as a real thing if you can grasp that fear then you can start to be begin to grasp the meaning of this mysterious Hebrew worded is it's a guttural sound it comes from the back of the throat it's it's it's it's a word that's in um the passage that's on the front of your bulletin on the front of your bulletin the the the scripture passage that I chose says he said may you be blessed by the Lord my daughter this last instance of your loyalty your is better than the first now other versions of the Bible translate it as kindness but it's one of those words that just can't be meaningfully translated directly the best attempts use these hyphenated words like loving kindness or steadfast love or loyal devotion or gracious kindness one way to define it is a love that will not let go a promise kept the word appears 247 times in the Bible it's used to show the kind of love between two people but most often it refers to the love that God has for Israel God's love will not let go of Israel no matter what Israel does or how hopeless the situation seems God will not abandon us no matter how what we do or how hopeless our situation may be God loves us with that kind of not because of who we are or what we do but simply because it is the nature of God to love that way it's a guarantee and this kind of love that will not let you go this loyalty is the only antidote to the fear of the future and that's what this chapter is about let me explain in order to understand what's happening here in this third chapter we have to go back a little bit we have to go back to Genesis chapter 38 and there we meet a woman named Tamar Tamar boaz's great great great great great great great grandmother Seven Generations back seven is an important number Tamar is also a widow just like Ruth she's also a foreigner just like Ruth Tamar is married to ER the oldest son of Judah but ER dies leaving Tamar childless Judah tells his second son Onan that he is obligated to perform the duty of lever marriage I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago leverate marriage is when one male dies without a male Heir his brother is required by law to have sexual relations with his brother's widow so that she might have a male child and then that male child is to be raised as the dead brother's son well Onin doesn't want to do this why because if Tamar has a male child the family's wealth is going to go to that child so the text says that he avoided impregnating her by deceptive means the Bible's a very earthy book I would recommend that you might want to check out exactly how it describes how he does that so God doesn't like this and so Onan dies now Judah has become convinced that Tamar is cursed so he tells her go home to your father's house wait until my youngest son Salah grows up and can p perform the duty of lever marriage in other words don't call us we'll call you do You Hear The Echoes of Ruth's story here and when Tamar realizes that the family will not honor her Duty their duty to her dead husband she comes up with a plan she dresses up as a temple prostitute she covers her face and she goes out on the road on a day when she knows that Judah is going to be traveling from one city to another and he falls for it he doesn't recognize her and he believes she's a prostitute and so he desires to engage her services and in lie of payment which he doesn't have he offers her his ring his signate and his staff he says you hold these to know that I'm good for it and I'll pay you and then I can get my items back from you and she accepts it and so the text says he goes into her they have sex afterwards Tamar disappears and she goes back to her father's house and when Judah returns to pay this prostitute and retrieve his pledged items she's nowhere to be found well Tamar is now pregnant with twin sons and three months go by and she begins to show well the town's people report this back to Judah they say Tamar has been playing the she's pregnant as a result and Judah is indignant she must be killed for this he says and so as she's being dragged out of her father's house by the town's people to face her fate she pulls out the ring and the signant and the staff and she says the owners of these are the father of my child and Judah acknowledges that they belong to him and says she is the righteous one what a strange story what does it mean why is Tamar so insistent that she have a child by this family so insistent that she would plot this deception and risk her life and why is she considered righteous for doing it so righteous in fact that she is only one of three women who are listed as the ancestor of Jesus in Matthew's gospel one of the others is Ruth you could say that faith is concerned with eternal life one of the purposes of faith is to answer the question what happens after we die do we disappear into nothingness are we re reunited with our loved ones what happens and in a sense faith is where we look for the bomb that soothes the soul that is terrified by the fear of unknown future eternal life is an answer to the question will things be okay after I'm gone is there some kind of redemption for me for my loved ones in the face of my inevitable death in the Hebrew scriptures eternal life comes through one's offsprings in a sense eternal life is not the life of the individual preserved forever and ever amen eternal life is the relationship between God and Israel it occurs within the context of the people of God which is perpetuated through the offsprings and is grounded in their connection to the land so in the Hebrew scriptures if a man dies without a male offspring and it's patrilineal it's male that man disappears into Oblivion and it's only his wife who can provide this connection for him without an offspring he is no no longer connected to the people of God and he Fades into nothingness this is why the Bible is so concerned with genealogies so Tamar is not concerned about having a child so that she can have a child she wants a child so that she can keep her dead husband from fading into Oblivion she is fulfilling her promise to him as a wife she's redeeming him saving him from being lost because that is her Duty and she performs it with with unshakable loyalty even if it costs her her own life and this is something that her dead husband's own brother and father wouldn't provide why because it would have cost them they abandoned the dead to languish in Oblivion in favor of their own interests now the parallels come into Focus right now we might see why when Naomi tells Ruth go back to your mother's house where you can find a husband Ruth refuses she cannot abandon her promise to the living and to the dead she must ensure that the dead are not lost no matter what this dedication costs her it is just who she is so why does Boaz say to Ruth that asking her to marry him asking him to marry her is even more than refusing to abandon her mother-in-law well the text is replaying the Tamar Story the readers would have known that and she's offering the characters a second chance by asking Boaz to marry her she is giving him the great great great great great great grandson of Judah the opportunity to be the Redeemer that Judah refused to be she's offering Israel an opportunity to redeem its history and to plant seeds for a different future if what she needed was just a child she could have gone after a younger man she would have had a better shot at it for sure she understands the god of Israel she understands the need of the Dead for Redemption she understands boaz's need to get things right and she understands all of Israel's need to be restored to the law no one is Left Behind in this story no one everyone has a chance at Redemption only those whose interests are shortsighted and self-centered are lost in the end the Book of Ruth is often called a love story but we shouldn't be confused about it it is not not a romantic love story Boaz and Ruth are not swooning after each other the Book of Ruth is a love story in the sense that it demonstrates through the character of this woman the nature of a particular kind of love a love that will not let go there's purpose behind this deception this depiction of this woman is intended to pose a question do we love like this do we love like this can we love like this do we understand love as a sentiment or a feeling or do we understand love as a commitment to the other that extends beyond our own self-interests do we understand how hard it is to love like that alone do we realize that it takes a community do we know that that's why we're here I was joking about how much fun we had but in truthed was why we were at Pacific Pride yesterday it's why we sign up to feed a people at transition house it's why we collect backpacks for school children we will never meet it's why we try to remember to bring our Plastics to church and why we buy extra food at the grocery store for those who have nothing it's why we place an offering in the place late even when we have so many other things we would rather spend our money on it's why we invest so much of our heart and soul and resources into ensuring the future of this church so that the generations ahead of us will have access to its virtues and values long after we are gone we may not be able to do anything about the future but we can commit to a love that is steadfast enough to be there when the future arrives no matter what it has in store and when we do that when we love like Ruth loved when we become we become aware of this truth in every fiber of our being that God loves like that and in that awareness we know that all shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well amen [Music] for world every respects each we love his and all his with jice and pra for World good share andok children we welcome one family and struggle with each choice opens us to un and gives our vision the poor are rich the weak are strong the foolish till all perishes will rise for pring for God's glorious of Peace which will be no more all that will see good morning better okay um I have a small slide presentation perfect okay so this I am addressing everyone here who has been doing this since 1991 um maybe you're watching online I don't know where the camera is uh hi but this is for everyone whether you understand what transition house is or not I'm just kind of starting from the beginning um as I went to look this up I saw that St Andrews has been serving meals at transition house since 1991 and I'm not going to go into it too much but I'm going to give you very briefly some information about transition house next slide so this is the transition house mission statement transition house uh provides housing for families and all kinds of wraparound services to get the families from temporary housing to uh permanent housing that they can uh sustain themselves next slide so what does St Andrews do at transition House St Andrews provides one dinner a month for the residents at transition house you probably have seen this in the bulletin or you've seen us outside at the table saying hey sign up sign up for you know helping to cook or serve a transition house next slide so what is it it's the third Friday of every month anyone is invited to help cook people watching at home people here in the pews you want to bring a friend anyone can cook anyone can serve who's over 18 that's a transition house role and uh any expenses you incur for the meal will be reimbursed by the mission committee here at church next slide okay you feel invited sounds good but you're still not sure maybe you're like oh I can't cook for 50 people that's unheard of well then let's make it fun next slide come to our cooking party September 20th is the third Friday in September so I thought hey let's all come together anyone who wants any skill level if you've never held a knife if you went to codon Blu whichever one you are come on out to the church uh between 2 and 5:00 p.m. and we'll put together a whole meal and then we have servers who will take it to transition house that night you could also be one of those servers if if you would like all you need to do is show up and preferably you'll sign up so that I make a plan according to the number of people that we have coming uh next slide okay if you have any questions you can email the office or qu well questions or if you want to sign up you can email or call the office next slide thank you thanks an remember the words the Lord Jesus himself said it is more blessed to give than to receive as recipients of Abundant Life In Christ we now offer our gifts to God [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] God blessings FL praise God All Creatures praise God for all that [Music] Christ [Music] and please join me in our Unison prayer of dedication the hungry the homeless the searching the addicted our neighbors are all around us oh God we pray that as we offer our gifts they might be used not only to bring these sisters and brothers closer to you but to us as well this we pray in Jesus name amen let us be together as one people praying for each other for the church and for the world let us pray a love that will not let us go we give you thanks that we might find our peace in you we Rejoice that in your spirit we might offer that peace to others hear us O Lord as we pray for peace hold this world tight Lord extinguish war and violence do not let it spread across the land protect those in its path the innocent and the guilty care for people who are on the Move escaping from a place they once called home to find Safety and Security in the land of strangers open our hearts to those in need lead us into Compassion Care for the sick and the dying may they know your love so fully that it might put out all fear and fill their hearts with Your Grace by your grace Lord May the walls that isolate fall fear dissolved into trust arrogance made gentle by compassion our need to prove ourselves tempered by self-acceptance Lord receive us as we rest in a love that helps us see our lives as part of a great Unity a coherence of Grace in that Unity We join with all creation in proclaiming your glory forever and ever as we pray together the prayer that your son taught us saying 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 as we forgive as we forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation but Deliver Us from Evil for thine is the kingdom and the power power and the glory forever amen be the love to search and keep me me the pray to my voice me the strength to know me Christ Christ me the name of wites and folds Angels witness Christ me oh Christ me brightness of and cl flashing off wind the sea to soil of Planet Christ me oh Christ me walking behind to H my journey to light my way and love and Christ me all Christ Christ heart CHR Christ friends as you go out from here go out knowing that Christ surrounds you that God's love for you extends so far into the future that it is unimaginable and in that knowledge go and love completely and holy and may the love of God the Grace peace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and the communion of God's holy spirit be with you now and forever more amen [Music] sheep SEC friends go in peace to love and serve the Lord [Music] for [Music] e for