Good Morning,
Welcome to your online worship from St. Mark’s for Sunday, October 6, 2024 as we continue through the Season of Creation.
In my sermon this Sunday, we reflect on Mark 10:2-16 and how Jesus challenges the Pharisees’ legalism and emphasizes the sacredness of all our human relationships. We explore how Jesus calls us to protect the vulnerable in our community and how we, as followers of Christ, are called to stand with those who are most at risk, offering them dignity, care, and a place in our community.
Prayer for the Beauty of Creation
Loving God, Creator of all, we thank you for the beauty of Creation; show us, we pray, how to respect the fragile balance of life. Guide by your wisdom those who have power to care for or to destroy the environment, that by the decisions we make, life may be cherished and a good and fruitful earth be preserved for future generations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Today’s Opening Sentence
If we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. – 1 John 4.12
Today’s Reading – Mark 10:2-16
Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
TThen in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.1
Your Online Message and Prayers
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Reflection questions for the week:
- How do we, as individuals and as a community, respond to the vulnerable in our midst? In what ways can we improve our efforts to protect and uplift those who are struggling?
- Jesus moved beyond the letter of the law to the heart of relationships. Hhow can we follow his example in our own relationships, ensuring they reflect care, respect, and mutual responsibility?
- In what ways might societal systems and rules still fail to serve the vulnerable today? How can we rise above these barriers to create a more compassionate and inclusive community?
- Who in your daily life might be struggling silently with insecurity, whether it be financial, emotional, or spiritual? How can you extend care and support to them this week?
A continued reminder that if you are at all uncomfortable being in-person for worship, or if you are not feeling well, please join us here online.
Thank you again for joining with your parish family in our online worship today.
Find out how you can support our ministry and good work in the community here.
God Bless you and have a blessed week. Be well!
Peace,
The Rev’d Canon Rob Park
- Scripture quotation is from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.