18th Sunday After Pentecost
September 23, 2018
Holy Communion at 8:30 and 11am


Prayer of the Day
O God, our teacher and guide, you draw us to yourself and welcome us as beloved children. Help us to lay aside all envy and selfish ambition, that we may walk in your ways of wisdom and understanding as servants of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Scripture readings
Jeremiah 11:18-20
Psalm 54:1-7 
James 3:13-18, James 4:1-3, James 3:7-8a
Mark 9:30-37

Sermon 
"Welcome Note"
Mark 9:30-37
Throughout our Gospel text today, Jesus is challenging his followers to think differently about the way they understand him and God's Kingdom. Jesus foreshadows his death and resurrection again for the disciples, but since crucifixion and resurrection don't fit into their understanding of the Messiah, the disciples not only remain confused but also afraid to ask Jesus any more about it. After this, the disciples argue among themselves about who is greater, and they still seem afraid for Jesus to know their concerns. The disciples appear to prefer cluelessness to clarity, which really isn't so different for those of us who are following Jesus all these years later. However, Jesus couldn't be more clear today as he places a little child among them and likens this act to true welcome. What more will Jesus do in our lives to challenge and overturn what we think we know and understand?

Hymns

In our prayers we remember the Selian Lutheran Hospital, a semi-urban hospital of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania.

Education hour at 9:45am

Sunday School,  Pre-Confirmation and  Confirmation students meet in their regular classrooms. 

2018-19 schedule for Sunday School, Pre-Confirmation, and Confirmation 

Adult Education

September 23
Can Poetry Be Written After Auschwitz?
Jill Baumgaertner
The Holocaust was the occasion when all of the central questions about God's justice and love, and humanity's capacity for evil, rise to the surface. Some have said that the only proper response to such horror is wordlessness; others have attempted to reflect the memories and record the sufferings in their poetry. We will examine some of these responses and consider the importance of lament, the oldest form of writing present in most cultures but disappearing in ours. Jill Baumgaertner is Professor of English Emerita at Wheaton College and a member of Grace. 

The Sunday morning Bible study group will not meet on September 23.

Adult Ed schedule September–November 2018

The Grace Church Library is open and staffed on Sundays from 8:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Look for books related to Adult Ed topics as well as many other subjects. The library is also open for self-service during the week.