Author: Rod Krueger

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church				        		    Prospect Heights, IL
5^th Sunday after Pentecost					    		    Sunday, July 5, 2020
Opening Hymn: “Today Your Mercy Calls Us”	 LSB 915
1	Today Your mercy calls us
    To wash away our sin.
However great our trespass,
    Whatever we have been,
However long from mercy
    Our hearts have turned away,
Your precious blood can wash us
    And make us clean today.

2	Today Your gate is open,
    And all who enter in
Shall find a Father’s welcome
    And pardon for their sin.
The past shall be forgotten,
    A present joy be giv’n,
A future grace be promised,
    A glorious crown in heav’n.

3	Today our Father calls us;
    His Holy Spirit waits;
His blessèd angels gather
    Around the heav’nly gates.
No question will be asked us
    How often we have come;
Although we oft have wandered,
    It is our Father’s home.

4	O all-embracing Mercy,
    O ever-open Door,
What should we do without You
    When heart and eye run o’er?
When all things seem against us,
    To drive us to despair,
We know one gate is open,
    One ear will hear our prayer.

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Invocation/ Exhortation
The sign of the cross may be made by all in remembrance of their Baptism.

P	In the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C	Amen.

P	If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
C	But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Confession and Forgiveness of Sins
Silence for reflection on God's Word and for self-examination.

P	Let us then confess our sins to God our Father.
C	Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will and walk in Your ways to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.

P	Almighty God in His mercy has given His Son to die for you and for His sake forgives you all your sins. As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority, I therefore forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the T Son and of the Holy Spirit.
C	Amen.

Introit	Ps. 91:2, 9–10; antiphon: Ps. 91:1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge—
no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Hymn of Praise: “God of Grace and God of Glory”	 LSB 850
1	God of grace and God of glory,
    On Your people pour Your pow’r;
Crown Your ancient Church’s story;
    Bring its bud to glorious flow’r.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
    For the facing of this hour,
    For the facing of this hour.

2	Lo, the hosts of evil round us
    Scorn the Christ, assail His ways!
From the fears that long have bound us
    Free our hearts to faith and praise.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
    For the living of these days,
    For the living of these days.

3	Cure Your children’s warring madness;
    Bend our pride to Your control;
Shame our wanton, selfish gladness,
    Rich in things and poor in soul.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage
    Lest we miss Your kingdom’s goal,
    Lest we miss Your kingdom’s goal.

4	Save us from weak resignation
    To the evils we deplore;
Let the gift of Your salvation
    Be our glory evermore.
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage,
    Serving You whom we adore,
    Serving You whom we adore.

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Salutation and Collect of the Day	
P	The Lord be with you.
C	And also with you.
 
P	Let us pray, Gracious God, our heavenly Father, Your mercy attends us all our days. Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world, and at life’s end grant us Your promised rest and the full joys of Your salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.
C	Amen.
Old Testament Reading	 Zechariah 9:9–12
^9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
^10I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
^11As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
^12Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
A	This is the Word of the Lord.
C	Thanks be to God.

Epistle	 Romans 7:14–25a
^14For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ^15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ^16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ^17So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ^18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ^19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ^20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
^21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ^22For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ^23but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ^24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ^25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.
 
A	This is the Word of the Lord.
C	Thanks be to God.

Holy Gospel	 Matthew 11:25–30
P	The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the eleventh chapter.
C	Glory to You, O Lord.
 
^25At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ^26yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ^27All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ^28Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ^29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ^30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
 
P	This is the Gospel of the Lord.
C	Praise to You, O Christ.

Hymn of the Day: “The King of Love My Shepherd Is”	 LSB 709
1	The King of love my shepherd is,
    Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His
    And He is mine forever.

2	Where streams of living water flow,
    My ransomed soul He leadeth
And, where the verdant pastures grow,
    With food celestial feedeth.

3	Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
    But yet in love He sought me
And on His shoulder gently laid
    And home rejoicing brought me.

4	In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
    With Thee, dear Lord, beside me,
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
    Thy cross before to guide me.

5	Thou spreadst a table in my sight;
    Thine unction grace bestoweth;
And, oh, what transport of delight
    From Thy pure chalice floweth!

6	And so through all the length of days
    Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
    Within Thy house forever!

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Sermon
There’s an old Aesop’s fable about a horse and a donkey. According to the story, the donkey carried all his master’s burdens even though he was very old and weak, while the horse walked alongside without a thing on his back. Weakly, the donkey said, “If you’ll share this burden, I might just live, but without any help, I’ll die.” The horse shook his head and said disdainfully, “Keep moving! Don’t bother me.” So the donkey walked along in silence, and not long after, he fell down dead.
            So the farmer transferred the whole burden to the horse’s back, along with the dead donkey’s valuable skin. The horse groaned, “What a mistake I’ve made! If only I’d agreed to carry a part of the burden. Now I have to carry the whole thing!”^1
            Sharing a burden together makes more sense, but only if we realize that part of the burden is ours in the first place. In our individualistic society, we often think we’re responsible for ourselves and nobody else — but perhaps that’s nothing new. After all, Cain did ask God if he was really expected to be his brother’s keeper.
            Recognizing that we all have a stake in each other’s lives was part of the reason that at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly, we will all hang separately.”
            But not everyone sees the world that way. For them, burdens are for other people. Indeed, they willingly set up burdens and barriers for others, it would seem, out of spite.
            This is some of what Jesus is saying in today’s gospel passage. In response to the unbelief of villages in Galilee, Jesus laments that these people who reject him ought to know better. What they are doing, however, in rejecting him is rejecting the “Lord of heaven and earth.” And in language that calls to mind Wisdom speaking in Proverbs, Jesus adds that those who oppose him in no way affect the mission of good news.
            In that time, some religious authorities had adopted an extreme legalism, putting up hurdles and barriers that made it all but impossible to obey God’s law. Or at least, so it seemed. Certainly, when people feel like they don’t measure up, they begin to despair and give up. But God’s law was not given to beat people down. It was given to establish boundaries that make authentic and abundant living possible.
            God’s commandments are not prohibitions to make life unbearable. Just the opposite! Establishing a society built upon justice, where the integrity of property and relationships is maintained, makes it possible to live with a sense of security and freedom so that everyone might live, in the words of the prophet, “under their own vines and … fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.”^2
            This is why Jesus makes it clear in the Sermon on the Mount that he has come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, so that it might achieve its true purpose of creating peace upon the earth.
            Jesus, brushing aside the objections of those who refuse to receive his teachings, says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” And then he says something startling: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
            This seems like a paradox. How can taking on a yoke, such as an ox might bear so it can pull a plow through a field, be easy? That’s hard work.
            There’s an insight that makes it easier to understand. As mentioned earlier, we are an individualistic society — so we think of ourselves pulling the yoke on our own. But Jesus is inviting us to be yoked with him. He is bearing the load with us? Could this be the wisdom that the humble (hopefully including us) get, while the overbearing and proud fail to see it?
            Working as partners makes us stronger, not weaker. Sharing the load makes the burden easier to bear. When someone is sorrowing, we may not be able to feel it as deeply as one who has been struck with the loss, but when we walk together, expressing sympathy, taking on tasks that might be distracting to the one who is grieving, speaking words or sometimes sharing in silence — does this shared bearing of burdens not make life more bearable?
            The ancient rabbis who wrote the Talmud pictured us yoked together with the commandments because, they felt, God’s mercy and justice revealed in the Law made the burden of life easier to bear.
            And who better to be yoked with, if burdens we must bear, than Jesus.
            But how can we bear such burdens if we are too proud to admit we need help? We need to have sympathy with and love for those who may need our help, and pray that others have those same feelings when we need help.
            Long before there was an International Space Station, the old Soviet Union had the Mir station in orbit. Mir is the Russian word for “peace.” After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Space Agency, through ingenuity and wisdom that came from long experience, kept the Mir station in orbit long beyond its planned dates of service.
            While the International Space Station was in planning, American astronauts were sent to Mir to develop the skills necessary for long-duration space flights. One or two of those assigned to Mir failed miserably, in part because they were unwilling to learn the Russian language or work in partnership with the more experienced cosmonauts. They kept to themselves and did not share the load.
            Others, especially Michael Foale, entered into the project with enthusiasm and purpose, learned the language, took part in the day-to-day tasks of keeping the station running and, when there was a fire and a major emergency involving a supply ship, were able to work together with their Russian partners to save and preserve the Mir. By voluntarily yoking themselves together, they saved their own lives in the process.
            The good news (and since the meaning of the word gospel is “good news,” there is always good news) is that God is patient, even with the proud who don’t think they need any help. The invitation from Jesus to come to him for rest is given to everyone. There is still time for those who have rejected or neglected or discounted or dismissed him to get on board, to share the yoke and to discover how easy burdens become when we share them.
            In a way, it should have been obvious that we are meant to look on the yoke as a shared experience. Christians come in teams, after all. Ours is not a solitary faith. We are all in this together. And thank heavens, Jesus is in this with us too.
            Finally, let’s not forget that carrying our burden together is not only easier; it’s safer. As members of the Good Shepherd’s flock, we provide protection for one another.
            A good example of this is what has come to be known as Hat Sunday in the quaint rural spot in the Pennsylvania Appalachians known as the Snake Spring Valley. In the early 20th century, the people at the old Dunker church still wore the plain garb as part of their practice of nonconformity. Some, however, were literally chafing under their collars and bonnets for change. The church was getting more involved in the world, sending out missionaries and serving others in the name of Christ. Some questioned whether it was wrong for the young men to wear bow ties and the women to wear hats. Wasn’t this being as legalistic as the Pharisees? But if a woman were to show up wearing a hat one Sunday, she would have been disfellowshipped.
            The women solved the garb issue with solidarity. According to the story, early in the 20th century the women decided they’d sink or swim together. As one woman remembered it decades later when she was in her 90s, they arranged ahead of time that one Sunday, they would all wear hats. Though they were afraid, they figured if one got in trouble, they all would.
            Well, the pious elders could have shunned one woman, but they couldn’t throw them all out of church! Sharing the burden brought security and success. That little church is still there in the valley, serving God and humanity.
            The poet John Donne is famous for having said, “No man is an island, entire of itself.” No one needs to be a single ox, either. Let us remain yoked together with each other. Let us remain yoked with Jesus as well. It makes all our burdens a whole lot easier to bear, in Jesus name, Amen.

Confession of Faith:  Nicene Creed	
C	I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
 
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
 
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life T of the world to come. Amen.

Prayer of the Church
Merciful Lord, hear the prayers of Your people and grant to us grace sufficient for our needs and all those for whom we pray.
Our God and King, as once Your people received You in joy, open our hearts to rejoice in Your coming so that we may meet You in Your Word and Sacrament, for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith. Help us to bless and extol Your name before the nations and to declare Your salvation to the generations to come, proclaiming that You are merciful and gracious and abounding in steadfast love. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Our Creator and Lord, from You all things come and to You are all things directed. Provide for our nation faithful leaders who will hear and heed Your law, protect and defend the citizens, preserve the precious gift of liberty, and inspire us to use our freedom honorably. Make us mindful of the heritage our forebears have given to this land, and guide us to be faithful in our stewardship of all the resources You have provided. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Our wise and giving God, You are the God of truth and in You is no falsehood or deception. Help us to delight in Your Law, to love what is good and true and right, and to seek after these things. Help us to wage war against the old Adam within us, restore us when we stray from Your Word, and forgive us when we give into the devil’s temptations. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Our compassionate Lord, we do not suffer alone the pain and afflictions of this life, but we live them out within Your grace and are sustained by Your mercy. Hear us on behalf of the sick, those who suffer, the grieving and those to whom death is near [especially _____________]. According to Your will, deliver them from their afflictions and give to all Your strength, patience and hope, that they may endure to eternal life. Show compassion, and drive all pestilence from our land. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Our loving Father, You have hidden Your greatness from our wisdom and made Your ways known to children. Guide us to bring our children to the waters of Baptism, to raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord, and to know perfect rest and peace within Your loving arms. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
Our heavenly Father and gracious God, as we come to the table Your Son has set, grant to us faith and repentance so that we may receive with joy and thanksgiving His flesh in this bread and His blood in this cup. Grant us Your Holy Spirit, that what we have received with our lips we may keep in holiness of life. Lord, in Your mercy, hear our prayer.
All these things, blessed Lord, we pray You to grant us according to Your merciful goodness and for the sake of Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Lord's Prayer	 LSB 162
P	Lord, remember us in Your kingdom and teach us to pray:
C	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; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Concluding Collect
P  I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. 
C Amen.

Benediction	 LSB 166
P	The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you.
The Lord look upon you with favor and T give you peace.
C	Amen.

Closing Hymn: “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”	 LSB 733
1	O God, our help in ages past,
    Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
    And our eternal home:

2	Under the shadow of Thy throne
    Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
    And our defense is sure.

3	Before the hills in order stood
    Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
    To endless years the same.

4	A thousand ages in Thy sight
    Are like an evening gone,
Short as the watch that ends the night
    Before the rising sun.

5	Time, like an ever-rolling stream,
    Soon bears us all away;
We fly forgotten as a dream
    Dies at the op’ning day.

6	O God, our help in ages past,
    Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guard while troubles last
    And our eternal home!

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Acknowledgments
Divine Service, Setting One from Lutheran Service Book
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.