2025-05-11 - CourtneyR.dev's 2nd Brain

# St. John's United Church of Christ — May 11, 2025 **Theme:** Christ Saves — God's Extravagant, Universal Salvation **Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday) | Mother's Day** **Guest Preacher: Rev. Peter Emig** 📹 **Service recording:** [YouTube — May 11, 2025](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs) --- ## Liturgical Context ### Christian Liturgical Calendar - **Season:** Easter (continuing) — the Fourth Sunday of Easter, traditionally known as **Good Shepherd Sunday** - **Liturgical color:** White (Eastertide) - **Lectionary used:** Revised Common Lectionary (Year C) — readings did NOT follow the Narrative Lectionary track for this Sunday. The NL track at this point was in late Year 3 (Luke), but Caroline / Peter selected the RCL Good Shepherd Sunday readings. - **Days into Easter:** Day 37 of the 50-day Eastertide; Ascension fell Thursday May 29; Pentecost fell Sunday June 8 - **Concurrent observance:** Mother's Day (US secular calendar) ### Jewish Calendar - **Hebrew date:** 13 Iyar 5785 - **Counting the Omer:** approximately Day 28 (Malchut she'b'Hod, sovereignty within glory, in the Kabbalistic sefirot framework) - **Parashah this week:** Acharei Mot–Kedoshim (Leviticus 16:1–20:27), read Shabbat May 10, 2025; Emor (Lev 21–24) follows on Shabbat May 17 - **Approaching:** Lag BaOmer on Friday May 16 (18 Iyar); Shavuot June 2, 2025 (6 Sivan) - **Themes overlapping with worship:** Kedoshim ("you shall be holy, for I YHWH your God am holy") and the Acts/Revelation visions of a sanctified people stand in productive conversation ### Ecumenical & Global Observances - **Mother's Day** observed today in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many other countries (UK Mothering Sunday was March 30, 2025) - The Disciples of Christ stewardship guest **Rev. Melissa St. Clair** is present (introduced by Caroline as "a guru of all things stewardship") — her parents are members of St. John's and she was ordained here ~17 years prior (~2008) ### Revised Common Lectionary Readings (Year C, Fourth Sunday of Easter) All four primary readings used today align with RCL Year C 4th Sunday of Easter: - **First reading:** Acts 9:36–43 — Peter raises Tabitha (Dorcas) in Joppa - **Psalm:** Psalm 23 — read responsively in the Inclusive Bible's YHWH paraphrase - **Epistle:** Revelation 7:9–17 — the great multitude that no one could count - **Gospel:** John 10:22–30 — the Festival of Dedication, "my sheep hear my voice" ### Connection to Today's Message - **Gospel angle:** The Good Shepherd discourse from John 10 frames the entire service — Psalm 23 echoes it, the Choral Prelude is *Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us*, and Peter's sermon ends with heaven as the destination *to which the Lamb-shepherd leads the great multitude* - **Mother's Day angle:** Peter opens with the figure of his own mother — a pastor's wife who, like Tabitha in Acts 9, was "devoted to good works and acts of charity." His mother's 35 years of bearing paralysis without complaint serves as the affective entry into the question of salvation - **The shape of the sermon:** Mother's Day → personal mother story → "if there is a heaven, my mother is there" → "but I have a list of people who should be denied entry" → wrestle with universal salvation through Jesus' parables → God's extravagant abundance → Pentecost's universal reach → Revelation's great multitude → close with the Mother's Day frame again --- ## Order of Worship *\*Please stand in body or in spirit* *Timestamps below link directly to the YouTube recording.* ### Gathering #### [Gathering Song — "This is the Day"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=1716s) Brief praise chorus drawn from [[Psalm 118#24]] — "This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." Words and music by Les Garrett, © 1967 Scripture in Song / Maranatha! Music. (Copyrighted; lyrics summarized rather than reproduced.) ![[Psalm 118#24]] #### [Unison Welcome](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=1788s) > "No matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here." #### [Announcements](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=1808s) - Caroline welcomes **Rev. Peter Emig** as guest sermon-giver - Caroline welcomes **Rev. Melissa St. Clair**, Disciples of Christ stewardship guest, whose parents are members — Melissa was ordained at St. John's ~17 years prior #### [Passing of the Peace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=1861s) > **Leader:** "The peace of Christ be with you." > **People:** "And also with you." #### [Chiming of the Trinity](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=1890s) #### [Choral Prelude — "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=1934s) **Arrangement:** Gilbert M. Martin **Text:** Dorothy A. Thrupp, 1836 (attributed) **Tune:** BRADBURY by William B. Bradbury, 1859 **Status:** Public domain (text and tune); arrangement may be copyrighted *Verse 1* Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need Thy tender care; In Thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use Thy folds prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, Thou hast bought us, Thine we are. *Verse 2* We are Thine, do Thou befriend us, be the Guardian of our way; Keep Thy flock, from sin defend us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear, O hear us when we pray; Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus, hear, O hear us when we pray. #### [*Call to Worship](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2104s) *adapted from Gathered by Love (Lavon Bayler)* > **Leader:** God awakens and restores our souls. > **People: Surely God's goodness and mercy are with us here.** > **Leader:** We will not fear to walk through shadowed valleys. > **People: God's love in Christ is with us everywhere.** > **Leader:** Come to drink from springs of living waters. Gather to find comfort and blessing here. > **People: Surely God will guide our search for truth and meaning. God calls us into community and care.** > **Leader:** Let us worship together. > **People: Let your love fill us and flow from us.** *Note the deliberate Psalm 23 layering — Bayler's Call to Worship is built from "shadowed valleys / goodness and mercy / springs of living waters" cues from the day's Psalm.* #### [*Hymn #72 — "Day by Day"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2171s) **Words:** Caroline V. Sandell-Berg, 1866; tr. A. L. Skoog, 1921 **Music:** Oscar Ahnfelt, 1872 **Tune:** BLOTT EN DAG (10.9.10.9.10.9.10.7) **Status:** Public domain *Verse 1* Day by day and with each passing moment, Strength I find to meet my trials here; Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment, I've no cause for worry or for fear. He whose heart is kind beyond all measure Gives unto each day what He deems best — Lovingly, its part of pain and pleasure, Mingling toil with peace and rest. *Verse 2* Every day the Lord Himself is near me With a special mercy for each hour; All my cares He gladly bears and cheers me, He whose name is Counselor and Power. The protection of His child and treasure Is a charge that on Himself He laid: "As your days, your strength shall be in measure," This the pledge to me He made. *Verse 3* Help me then in every tribulation So to trust Your promises, O Lord, That I lose not faith's sweet consolation Offered me within Your holy Word. Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting, E'er to take as from a father's hand, One by one, the days, the moments fleeting, Till I reach the promised land. #### [Call to Confession](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2345s) *from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion* > God is present to guide our journey and eager to forgive us when we go astray. Therefore, in humility and faith, let us confess our sins against God and neighbor. #### [Prayer of Confession (Unison)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2359s) *from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion* > Holy God, we confess that we have strayed from your paths of right relationship and peace, and we have dishonored you, ourselves, and your creation. We repent of these ways. Forgive us, we pray, as we learn to forgive others and guide our feet into the ways of peace. Amen. #### [Kyrie — Hymnal Companion C-4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2389s) > Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. > Christ, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. > Lord, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. #### [Assurance of Pardon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2425s) *from Feasting on the Word Worship Companion* > God's mercy overflows as a healing spring to cleanse us of our sins and all that separates us from God and one another. Therefore, know that you are forgiven and receive new life in Christ. #### [*Glory Be to the Father #704 (Gloria Patri)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2450s) **Words:** Anonymous, 4th century (traditional doxological text) **Music:** Christoph Meineke, 1844 **Tune:** MEINEKE **Status:** Public domain > Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; > As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. > Amen. Amen. ### Word #### [Scripture Reading — John 10:22–30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2493s) *The Good Shepherd discourse at the Festival of Dedication (Hanukkah).* ![[John 10#22]] ![[John 10#23]] ![[John 10#24]] ![[John 10#25]] ![[John 10#26]] ![[John 10#27]] ![[John 10#28]] ![[John 10#29]] ![[John 10#30]] #### [Responsive Reading — Psalm 23 (Inclusive Bible)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2561s) > **Leader:** YHWH, you are my shepherd — I want nothing more. > **People: You let me lie down in green meadows; you lead me beside restful waters; you refresh my soul. You guide me to lush pastures for the sake of your Name.** > **Leader:** Even if I'm surrounded by shadows of Death, I fear no danger, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff — they give me courage. > **People: You spread a table before me in the presence of my enemies, and you anoint my head with oil — my cup overflows!** > **Leader:** Only goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, > **People: and I will dwell in your house, YHWH, for days without end.** *The Inclusive Bible's YHWH paraphrase preserves the divine Name (Tetragrammaton) rather than substituting "LORD" — a translation choice that resonates with Courtney's Torah-positive orientation and recovers something the standard translations occlude.* #### [Children's Message / Bell Choir Anthem — "Moses and the Perfect Ten"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=2620s) **Composer:** Tammy Waldrop — "Moses and the Perfect Ten" (handbell anthem with character narration) Caroline calls the children forward and explains this is a "special thing this morning — two special things actually." The Bell Choir plays Tammy Waldrop's *Moses and the Perfect Ten* while a member in character as **"Rhonda the walking stick (Rod)"** — Moses' staff — narrates the story of: - Moses raised as an Egyptian prince - Fleeing to the desert after breaking Egyptian law - The burning bush on Mount Sinai ("take your shoes off, for you are standing on holy ground") - God turning the staff into a snake (with Rod's protest: "I was a snake. Yuck.") - Moses returning to Pharaoh, the ten plagues, and Pharaoh's final "okay" - The parting of the Red Sea - Mount Sinai and the giving of the law - The golden calf incident — "Moses is the only person who ever broke all ten commandments at once" - God forgiving and re-writing the tablets - The Ten Commandments recited one by one The narrator closes with: "God is perfect and his commandments are perfect. God knows we aren't perfect, but if we ask him, he promises to help us keep his rules." Exits to laughter: "I've got a luncheon appointment at the snake house at the zoo... sorry I can't stick around." > *Worth noting hermeneutically:* The piece presents the Ten Commandments in a children's-curriculum simplification that flattens significant interpretive choices. Commandment 1 becomes "don't worship anybody or anything but God" (eliding the henotheistic-to-monotheistic development); Commandment 4 becomes "Sunday is a special day to worship God and rest" (collapsing the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday without acknowledgment, a supersessionist move that erases Jewish Sabbath observance). For Courtney's Torah-positive lens, these are exactly the kinds of casual transpositions worth noticing. #### [Scripture Reading — Acts 9:36–43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=3713s) *Peter raises Tabitha (Dorcas) in Joppa.* ![[Acts 9#36]] ![[Acts 9#37]] ![[Acts 9#38]] ![[Acts 9#39]] ![[Acts 9#40]] ![[Acts 9#41]] ![[Acts 9#42]] ![[Acts 9#43]] #### [Scripture Reading — Revelation 7:9–17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=3857s) *The great multitude that no one could count, from every nation.* ![[Revelation 7#9]] ![[Revelation 7#10]] ![[Revelation 7#11]] ![[Revelation 7#12]] ![[Revelation 7#13]] ![[Revelation 7#14]] ![[Revelation 7#15]] ![[Revelation 7#16]] ![[Revelation 7#17]] #### [Prayer Before Sermon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=3999s) > May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart be acceptable to you, O God, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. #### [Sermon — Rev. Peter Emig](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=4028s) *Sermon content captured in the Sermon Notes section below.* ### Response #### [Responsive Litany for Mother's Day](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=5168s) *(Insert & on screen — author unattributed in 2025 bulletin)* > **Leader:** Today is the day we celebrate mothers. For some, this day is a day of delight and joyfulness. And for some, it is a day that is painful, complicated, and even layered. As we think about these vastly different connections and relationships there are to motherhood, we now take time to open our doors wide, making space for all experiences as we hold in prayer this day. > > **Leader:** Those who are proud and grateful for the mothers they have. Those who are holding good and tender memories of their mothers. Those who are grieving the loss of a mother on this day who has since passed and is no longer with us. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **Leader:** Those who are healing from abuse, violence, or neglect of a mother. Those who find their relationship with their mother to be complicated and difficult. Those who have longed for maternal love but have found none. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **Leader:** Those mothers who have lost children to suicide, disease, or estrangement. Those mothers whose children have gone missing or been abducted. Those mothers who are separated from their children due to family or marital conflict. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **Leader:** Those mothers who have miscarried or had pregnancies end unexpectedly. Those who are now amid pregnancy and will soon be moms. Those who have desperately wanted or longed to be a mother to a child of their own but cannot. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **Leader:** Those who have decided being a mother is not for them. Those who find the experience of motherhood to be challenging or difficult. Those mothers who are unhoused and caring for children with limited resources. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **Leader:** Those who are mothers to foster children, stepchildren, or those not biologically their own. Those who delight in having not one mom but two or three or more. Those who found mothering in their teachers, neighbors, friends, relatives, and siblings. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **Leader:** Those who mother businesses, nonprofits, and movements. Those who are mothering furry friends, pets, and companions with whiskers. Those who mother and tend to the earth that in return nurtures and cares for us. > **People: God, for these we pray.** > > **All:** God, we thank you for the gifts of motherhood, for the many ways mothering looks, for the life that is given, for the care that is shown, and for the love of godly mothering all we hope to know. Amen. > *Comparative note:* This 2025 litany takes a different approach than the [[2026-05-10|2026 Patty Lawrence litany]]. The 2025 litany is structured around lived categories of Mother's Day experience (grief, abuse, fertility, miscarriage, foster parenting, etc.); the 2026 litany is structured around named biblical women (Sarai, Esther, Jochebed, Hannah, Naomi, Ruth, Elizabeth, Mary, Rachel, Lois & Eunice). Both are inclusively framed but with different anchoring strategies. The 2025 version makes explicit space for women healing from maternal abuse — a category the 2026 version does not name as directly. #### [Sharing of Joys and Concerns](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs&t=5468s) - **Melissa St. Clair's parents:** Gratitude for having Melissa home for Mother's Day; gratitude to the congregation for raising Melissa and participating in her ordination ~17 years ago - **Prayer concern from Connie:** Called by **Nancy Gaul** — Nancy's sister **Judy** has fallen and has a fractured pelvis; in the hospital, status uncertain. Compounded by recent diagnosis: **Mike (Judy's husband) has Parkinson's disease.** "They're in a really rough time. So, prayers for Judy." - Peter: "Please pray unceasingly." #### Prayers of the People and the Lord's Prayer (Debts) #### Invitation to Giving #### Offertory #### *Offertory Response #706 — "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow" (Doxology) **Text:** Thomas Ken, 1674 **Music:** OLD 100TH, Genevan Psalter, 1551 (attributed to Louis Bourgeois) **Status:** Public domain > Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; > Praise Him, all creatures here below; > Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; > Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. #### *Prayer of Dedication *adapted from Gathered by Love* > Make these moments a feast of dedication to your purposes among us, loving God. May we serve you night and day, wherever we are, in all we do. Multiply these gifts and use them for your purposes and your kin(g)dom, for yours is the glory. Amen. ### Sending #### *Hymn #687 — "Would You Bless Our Homes and Families" **Words:** Walter H. Farquharson, 1974 **Music:** NETTLETON, *Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music*, 1813 **Meter:** 8.7.8.7 D **Status:** Text under copyright (Farquharson, 1974); tune public domain *Verse 1* Would You bless our homes and families, source of life who calls us here; In our world of stress and tension, teach us love that conquers fear. Help us learn to love each other with a love that constant stays; Teach us when we face our troubles, love's expressed in many ways. *Verse 2* When our way is undemanding, let us use the time that's ours To delight in simple pleasures, sharing joys in gentle hours. When our way is anxious walking and a heavy path we plod, Teach us trust in one another and in You, our gracious God. *Verse 3* From the homes in which we're nurtured, with the love that shapes us there, Teach us, God, to claim as family every one whose life we share. And through all that life may offer, may we in Your love remain; May the love we share in families be alive to praise Your name. *Verse 4* Let us reach beyond the boundaries of our daily thought and care Till the family You have chosen spills its love out everywhere. Help us learn to love each other with a love that constant stays; Teach us when we face our troubles, love's expressed in many ways. #### *Commission & Benediction #### Postlude (seated) *Join us for a time of fellowship after worship!* --- ## Sermon Notes ### Introduction > Peter opens: **"Happy Mother's Day."** He names the day directly — "the day in which we honor the unyielding love and care and eternal presence of all loving mothers, grandmothers, and those who have displayed mothering instincts, living and deceased." > He then turns to his own mother. The framing is autobiographical and Tabitha-inflected: his mother was "devoted to good works and acts of charity" (Acts 9:36, the exact phrase the lector just read aloud). ### Main Points #### Point 1: His mother as a Tabitha figure > - A pastor's wife; raised three children > - Returned to college; became an elementary 2nd-grade teacher serving underprivileged children > - Teaching was her passion — "she loved it" > - **At age 57, contracted Guillain-Barré syndrome** — left completely paralyzed > - During that paralysis, suffered a massive stroke that went undetected until the GBS lifted > - Year-long rehab residency; lived 35 years paralyzed on her right side > - **"Bore her cross with courage and with grace"** — never complained > - Lived with thanksgiving for the blessings still bestowed > - **"If there is indeed a heaven, I am 100% sure that my mother is there."** #### Point 2: The list problem > - But here's the pivot: **"If there is a heaven, there are people on my own personal list who should be denied entry upon their death."** > - "I bet you have your own list as well." > - This is the theological struggle of 45 years of ministry > - **The question:** "Did Jesus Christ actually die for all people?" > - "Do you have a list of those who should be received and those who should be denied entry? Who for you is the most heinous or the oddest? Those who clearly in your mind should be cast into the fires of hell. **Did Christ die for them as well?**" #### Point 3: The parable cascade — God's extravagance > Peter retells seven Jesus-parables in rapid succession, each ending with the same rhetorical question: *"Which one of you would not do that?"* The cumulative answer: **"The answer is none of you behave in this unseemingly reckless and extravagant way."** > > The parables: > > - **Sower** ([[Matthew 13#3]]–[[Matthew 13#9]]): "Without preparation, the farmer begins slinging seed everywhere — good and bad soil." > - **Net of fish** ([[Matthew 13#47]]–[[Matthew 13#50]]): "The master is more impressed with the size of a haul than the quality of the harvest." > - **Wheat and weeds** ([[Matthew 13#24]]–[[Matthew 13#30]]): "The master says someday he will judge the good and the bad. But we are not to bother ourselves with such sorting. **It's not our job.**" > - **Lost sheep** ([[Luke 15#3]]–[[Luke 15#7]]): "Will not leave the 99 sheep to fend for themselves... put that sheep on your shoulders like a lost child and say to your friends, 'Come party with me.'" > - **Lost coin** ([[Luke 15#8]]–[[Luke 15#10]]): "Will not rip up the carpet and strip the house bare... run into the street and call to your neighbors, 'Come party with me. I have found my quarter.'" > - **Prodigal son** ([[Luke 15#11]]–[[Luke 15#32]]): "Will not throw the biggest bash this town has ever seen, singing, 'This son of mine was dead, but is now alive.'" > - **Good Samaritan** ([[Luke 10#25]]–[[Luke 10#37]]): "Put the injured man in the back seat of your recently detailed car. Take him to the hospital. Spend every cent you have on his recovery and more." > > **The masterful pivot:** "But friends, these are not stories about us. They are not about how we look at the world or how we look at others. **These stories are God's stories.**" > > God is named with a litany of reckless titles: > > - **God the searching shepherd** > - **God the careless farmer** > - **God the undiscerning fisherman** > - **God the reckless woman** > - **God the extravagant father** > - **God the prodigal Samaritan** > > **Central thesis:** "Jesus reveals to us a God who does not focus as we do on the little things. Does not fret about a list of who's in and who's out. **Abundance is the nature of God.**" #### Point 4: The Tabitha frame — abundance in feeding and resurrection > - Jesus took what the disciples had and blessed it — there was "not only enough to satisfy the hungry ones, but there was also a surplus, more than enough" (echo of [[Matthew 14#13]]–[[Matthew 14#21]] / [[Mark 6#30]]–[[Mark 6#44]]) > - "Jesus demonstrates a love and charity that is at the heart of all God-given reality" > - **The central quote (transcript verified):** *"This salvation of God is the great mystery of a God who **refuses to be alone**."* > - **Correction note:** A previous iteration of this note read "*chooses* to be alone" — that was a misreading. The actual transcript and the theological point are about a God who *refuses* solitude, who insists on company, who gathers a great multitude. This is the load-bearing word. > - "All of us sin. All human beings sin. God's mercy is actively available for all." > - **"This is what Pastor Caroline proclaims every Sunday. I know. I know because I've been on the other end of that camera listening to Pastor Caroline preach on Sunday."** — Peter explicitly endorses Caroline's preaching pattern as the same universalist-mercy proclamation he's making today #### Point 5: The early church as universal proclaimers > - A tiny sect in a far away corner of the Roman Empire > - Devotion to a Jew, a criminal tortured to death by the authorities > - "A little fringe group of extremists holding on with all their might" > - "Their light seemed fragile and dim. No real threat to the brilliance of the Roman Empire." > - **And yet** — they spoke of salvation as "no less cosmic, no less world-shattering than the end and the beginning of all things" > - Commanded to enlist disciples from every nation, both Israel and Rome, without distinction > - All distinctions — Jew/Gentile, male/female, in/out — "destroyed in the inclusive embrace and love and grace and mercy of Jesus Christ" > - At Pentecost ([[Acts 2#1]]–[[Acts 2#21]]): multilingual, universal > - The church was "thrust everywhere, showing up all over" > - Empowered to teach, preach, perform healing miracles (cf. Peter and Tabitha — the day's Acts reading) > - Paul: "you are God's major means of reconciling the world" ([[2 Corinthians 5#18]]–[[2 Corinthians 5#19]]) #### Point 6: Revelation 7 — the numberless throng > - "John says that heaven contains a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, from all tribes, all peoples, all languages" > - "A huge numberless throng. They are all before the throne of the lamb. All worshiping the lamb." > - **"Revelation is describing heaven as a spacious place with lots of room for many kinds of people from many many different places from all over the earth."** > - "This is what we are to believe. This is what we are to proclaim." #### Point 7: The closing challenge > The closing turns from declaration to congregational examination: > > - Are we going into the world and proclaiming that God's salvation is for all people? > - Are we living out what we are to proclaim like our ancestors — Paul and the disciples who stepped out with courage? > - Or do we **"cower in some dark place compiling our lists of who's in and who's out, finding cover and security only in the judgments that we make of others?"** > > **The climactic warning:** *"If our hearts are only filled with judgment, if our eyes only see the sin of others, **heaven will only be the goal at the end of life rather than an achievement in this life as well.**"* > > Heaven re-described: > > - The result of the searching shepherd, the seeking woman, the reckless farmer > - A great multitude, a limitless throng, a crowd > - **"Because Jesus saves, this is our destiny, our last, our best hope. This is heaven on earth as well as beyond."** ### Closing Charge > **"This is what we should proclaim as Christians. Yes. Proclaim it with love, with joy, with conviction, and with the same enthusiasm as we proclaim happy Mother's Day. Amen."** The sermon's bookends are deliberate: Mother's Day frame opens it, Mother's Day frame closes it. The Tabitha (Acts) / Multitude (Rev) hinge sits inside. ### Illustrations / Stories - **Peter's own mother** — 35 years paralyzed after Guillain-Barré + stroke at 57; her sustained gratitude and faithfulness. Tabitha-inflected. - **The seven-parable cascade** — recasting each parable in contemporary or vivid concrete terms (the prodigal's "biggest bash this town has ever seen," the Samaritan's "recently detailed car," the woman who "rips up the carpet") - **The early Church as fringe sect** — a deliberate move to dignify the smallness of present-day mainline congregations: "a tiny sect... pitiful congregations here and there... fragile and dim light" - **"On the other end of that camera"** — Peter situating himself as a regular viewer of Caroline's livestream; affirms her preaching pattern from the position of trusted colleague rather than visiting guest ### Scripture Connections - **[[Acts 9#36]]–[[Acts 9#43]]** — Tabitha/Dorcas as the Mother's Day touchstone; "devoted to good works and acts of charity" maps directly onto Peter's mother - **[[Revelation 7#9]]–[[Revelation 7#17]]** — the great multitude as the eschatological vision of universal salvation; "no one could count, from every nation" - **[[John 10#22]]–[[John 10#30]]** — read at the opening; the Good Shepherd framing for the entire service - **[[Psalm 23]]** — responsively read (Inclusive Bible YHWH paraphrase) - **[[Matthew 13#3]]–[[Matthew 13#9]]** — Sower - **[[Matthew 13#47]]–[[Matthew 13#50]]** — Net of fish - **[[Matthew 13#24]]–[[Matthew 13#30]]** — Wheat and weeds - **[[Luke 15#3]]–[[Luke 15#7]]** — Lost sheep - **[[Luke 15#8]]–[[Luke 15#10]]** — Lost coin - **[[Luke 15#11]]–[[Luke 15#32]]** — Prodigal son - **[[Luke 10#25]]–[[Luke 10#37]]** — Good Samaritan - **[[Matthew 14#13]]–[[Matthew 14#21]]** — Feeding of 5,000 (surplus / abundance) - **[[Acts 2#1]]–[[Acts 2#21]]** — Pentecost (multilingual / universal) - **[[2 Corinthians 5#18]]–[[2 Corinthians 5#19]]** — "God's major means of reconciling the world" ### Key Quotes (verified against transcript) > "Did Christ die for them as well?" > "It's not our job." > "These are not stories about us. They are not about how we look at the world or how we look at others. These stories are God's stories." > "Abundance is the nature of God." > **"This salvation of God is the great mystery of a God who refuses to be alone."** *(Note: the load-bearing word is **refuses**, not "chooses." The earlier draft of this note had it wrong.)* > "All of us sin. All human beings sin. God's mercy is actively available for all." > "This is what Pastor Caroline proclaims every Sunday." > "If our hearts are only filled with judgment, if our eyes only see the sin of others, heaven will only be the goal at the end of life rather than an achievement in this life as well." > "Because Jesus saves, this is our destiny, our last, our best hope. This is heaven on earth as well as beyond." > "Proclaim it with love, with joy, with conviction, and with the same enthusiasm as we proclaim happy Mother's Day." --- ## Personal Reflections ### What spoke to me: > > ### Questions raised: > ### Challenges / Convictions: > ### Liturgical Context Reflections: > **The Tabitha–Mother's Day pairing:** This is a thoughtful liturgical move. Tabitha is one of the relatively few named women in Acts who is described primarily by her own works (not by her relationship to a man). Peter raises her not because she is a mother but because she is a maker of garments for widows — chosen-family economics. Pairing her with Mother's Day pulls "mothering" off the biological track and onto the chosen-family track. This is a quietly significant feminist move in mainline preaching. > **The 2025 vs. 2026 Mother's Day litanies:** Worth comparing across years. The 2025 litany (unattributed in the bulletin) is structured around lived experiences; the 2026 Patty Lawrence litany is structured around named biblical women. The 2025 version names "abuse, violence, or neglect of a mother" directly — a category the 2026 version touches only implicitly. The 2026 version names "the mother of the prodigal son" — pulling forward absent figures the 2025 version doesn't address. Reading them together gives a richer picture of what's at stake in inclusive Mother's Day liturgy than either alone. > **RCL vs. NL switching:** This Sunday's full RCL slate (John 10 / Psalm 23 / Acts 9 / Rev 7) is unusual for a primarily NL-tracking congregation. Either Caroline elected to switch for Good Shepherd Sunday + guest preacher, or the guest preacher's text choices were honored. Worth noticing how the local liturgical practice negotiates between two lectionary frameworks. ### Hermeneutical Notes > **Universalism as hopeful eschatology, not dogma:** Peter's sermon is in the tradition of *hopeful universalism* (cf. Hans Urs von Balthasar's *Dare We Hope*, Karl Barth's actualism, David Bentley Hart's *That All Shall Be Saved*) — but without dogmatic commitment to apokatastasis. The sermon stays in the question ("Did Christ die for them as well?") and lets the parables answer indirectly. This is a stronger rhetorical move than direct universalist assertion would be, because it leaves the listener with the parables doing the work. > **The "list" framing as DARVO inversion:** Peter names the temptation to make lists of who deserves heaven and who doesn't. From a Courtney-NAR-research perspective, this is precisely the cognitive structure that high-control religious movements weaponize — the production of insider/outsider rosters, the practice of casting opponents into hell-language. Peter's sermon is anti-DARVO in its rhetoric: instead of denying-attacking-reversing-victim-and-offender against named opponents, it absorbs the listener's own impulse-to-judge and reframes God's abundance as the alternative. This is the OPPOSITE of NAR/dominionist preaching, which intensifies list-making rather than dissolving it. > **Willimon-adjacent rhetoric:** The phrasing "careless sowing, miraculous growing, reckless harvesting" and the cumulative-parables structure with "Which one of you would not do that?" reads as Willimon-influenced (cf. Will Willimon's preaching style and his book *Reading with Deeper Eyes*). Worth checking whether Peter cites this source in another sermon. If not, it may be derived from the same homiletical lineage (Duke / mainline-Methodist preaching) rather than directly copied. > **Christological gravitational center:** Note that the sermon's theological work is centered on **Christology** (what does it mean that Jesus saves?) and not on **soteriology in the abstract** (what is salvation?). This keeps the sermon orthodox in mainline-Protestant terms even as it pushes toward universalist territory. Peter never says "all are saved regardless of Christ" — he says "Christ saves... maybe everyone, because Christ refuses to be alone." That's a meaningful distinction. > **Hermeneutical genealogy thread — "Christ is Lord and Caesar is not":** Absent from this sermon. Where last week's Caroline-quoting-Craddock framing was about *political-imperial contrast*, this sermon is about *moral-judicial contrast*. The empire question doesn't come up. That's notable in a sermon about universal salvation — Peter doesn't push the political reading even when the materials would support it. > **Pastoral risk of universalism with abuse survivors:** A sermon that proclaims "God's mercy is actively available for all" can land hard on survivors of abuse who are still working through whether their abuser will "get away with it" eschatologically. Peter does not address this. His mother's suffering is foregrounded as exemplary endurance ("bore her cross with courage and grace") — which is theologically warm but pastorally complex when reaching survivors whose suffering was inflicted, not contracted. Worth tracking how this lands. --- ## Applications ### This week I will: > ### People to pray for: > - Judy (Nancy Gaul's sister) — fractured pelvis after a fall, hospitalized > - Mike (Judy's husband) — recent Parkinson's diagnosis > - Nancy Gaul — carrying both the above > - Melissa St. Clair and family ### Follow-up study: > - Compare Peter's sermon with Will Willimon's preaching on the parables (e.g., Willimon's *The Intrusive Word*) > - Trace the Tabitha-as-feminist-figure scholarship — Carolyn Osiek, Mary Rose D'Angelo, Florence Gillman > - Revisit Hans Urs von Balthasar, *Dare We Hope That All Men Be Saved?* — the hopeful-universalist tradition --- ## Connections > Cross-references and threads to follow: > > - [[2026-05-10]] — May 10, 2026 (Sixth Sunday of Easter, NL444, Mother's Day) — Caroline's "Partnership in the Gospel" sermon. The 2026 sermon's "preached but did not develop Phil 1:15–18" hermeneutical flag is the inverse situation from Peter's 2025 sermon: Peter develops *exactly* the "Christ is proclaimed in every way" generosity move (extravagant inclusion) that the 2026 reading occluded. > - Tabitha (Acts 9:36–43) as a recurring figure — pull forward for any future preaching on women in Acts or chosen-family theology > - **WHO Corpus thread:** Compare Peter's "refusing to be alone" Christology with NAR / dominionist preaching, where "spiritual warfare" against named opponents is the structuring logic. Peter's sermon is a clean negative-example of NAR rhetoric — same Bible, opposite homiletical posture. > - **Hermeneutical genealogy — universal salvation:** trace Augustine → Barth → Balthasar → Bell (Rob) → Hart as a lineage; locate Peter on it > - **DARVO inversion:** Peter's sermon as a case study in homiletical anti-DARVO — the preacher absorbs the listener's judgment-impulse rather than directing it outward at named opponents --- ## Worship Leadership | Role | Person | |------|--------| | Pastor | Rev. Caroline E. Saxton | | Guest Preacher | Rev. Peter Emig | | Stewardship Guest (Disciples of Christ) | Rev. Melissa St. Clair | | Organist | Barbara Motichka | | Deacon in Charge | Mike Blumberg | | Lector | Barbara Wissinger | | Children's Corner | Roxanne Davenport | | Bell Choir / Children's Message Narrator | "Rhonda the walking stick (Rod)" — character in Tammy Waldrop's *Moses and the Perfect Ten* | | Media Coordinator | Calvin Frantz | | Bulletin Cover | Edd Scheer | --- ## Birthdays This Week (from 2025 bulletin) - 5/14 — Lori Leister; Heather Myers; Neilan Rensch Jr. - 5/15 — Naomi Mull - 5/16 — James Boyer; Colton Wadel; Jeffrey Young - 5/17 — Joe Wohl - 5/18 — Zoe Dereef --- ## Vision & Mission ### St. John's Vision > We are called to love, to learn, to worship and to witness in Christ as a congregation that welcomes everyone, and seeks service that will advance God's realm on earth. ### St. John's Mission > To grow in love of God and neighbor. --- ## Worship Resources Used Today - *Gathered by Love: Worship Resources for Year C* by Lavon Bayler — Call to Worship, Prayer of Dedication - *Feasting on the Word Worship Companion: Liturgies for Year C, Vol. 1*, ed. Kimberly Bracken Long — Call to Confession, Prayer of Confession, Assurance of Pardon - Hymnal Companion (Kyrie C-4) - Celebrating Grace hymnal (#72, #687, #704, #706) - *Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us* — arr. Gilbert M. Martin (Choral Prelude) - *Moses and the Perfect Ten* — Tammy Waldrop (Bell Choir / Children's Message) - The Inclusive Bible — Psalm 23 paraphrase - Mother's Day Responsive Litany — author unattributed in 2025 bulletin --- ## Backfill Notes > This note was substantially expanded on **May 10, 2026** by working back through the YouTube recording transcript ([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lr9LagcFPs)). The original 2025 bulletin extraction is preserved in structure but the following were added or corrected: > > - **YouTube timestamp deep-links** on all Order of Worship subheadings (`&t=XXXs` format) > - **Modernized YAML frontmatter** with block sequences, expanded liturgical context, and full tag list per current vault standards > - **Liturgical Context section** added — Christian, Jewish, ecumenical observances; RCL Year C readings for Good Shepherd Sunday > - **Comprehensive Sermon Notes** drawn directly from the transcript (Peter Emig's actual words, structure, and emphases) > - **Key Quote correction:** "*chooses* to be alone" → "*refuses* to be alone" (the load-bearing word in Peter's theological argument) > - **Children's Message clarification:** the bulletin lists Roxanne Davenport as Children's Corner; the actual children's time was a doubled event — the Bell Choir performing Tammy Waldrop's *Moses and the Perfect Ten* with a character ("Rhonda / Rod the walking stick") narrating the Ten Commandments story > - **Mother's Day litany text** reproduced in full from the transcript (the 2025 litany text was not in the original note) > - **Joys & Concerns** captured: Melissa St. Clair's parents' gratitude; Connie's prayer request relayed from Nancy Gaul about her sister Judy (fractured pelvis) and Judy's husband Mike (Parkinson's diagnosis) > - **Hermeneutical Notes** seeded per current vault analytical framework (universal-salvation lineage, DARVO inversion, list-making as NAR-adjacent cognitive structure, Willimon-adjacent rhetoric) > - **Cross-references** to the [[2026-05-10]] note for comparative analysis (especially the 2025 vs. 2026 Mother's Day litany comparison)