September 26 Worship Service

Our September 26 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. We are excited to say that our Sunday 8 & 10:30 am services are open again for in-person worship. Services will continue to be streamed online.

Click on picture to view video

The October 3 Sunday worship service will be held with in-person attendance. We have returned to regular in-person worship services. With an upturn in county COVID cases, we recommend masks even for those who are vaccinated.

It is scheduled to be streamed live on the DeSoto Redeemer Facebook page. We will post a direct link to the recording here as soon as it is possible after the service.

We are glad to share our worship with you. Click on “Contact Us” above to find out more about our faith family and what we believe.

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 | Psalm 19:7-14
James 5:13-20 | Mark 9:38-50

Looking at the texts today, which at the surface all appear to be very different, there are some common themes. One is, “You don’t have to go it alone.” Moses gets help; James says pray in many situations (and with other members of the Church) – God will hear you; Jesus says those who aren’t against you are for you. Interesting. The other theme is in a sense, Good versus Evil; and by extension, how it relates to ultimate Authority. BTW, Good wins, Ultimately.

In the OT lesson, a group of the Israelites are complaining, again. It will be a recurring theme through the 40 years in the Wilderness. But, this time the rest of the people join in. Why? It was something which everyone could identify with – food, which was one of their usual complaints (see my wife, the Food Service Director). They are looking fondly back, “In Egypt, we had good things to eat; meat, fish, vegetable and fruit.” They forgot that they were also slaves in the land of Egypt; that they were literally being worked to death, and their male children were being put to death. “Now, all we have is this Manna to look at.” Notice, they didn’t even say to eat, just “look at.” Acting like children. My daughter was a picky eater when she was younger. Actually, she is still a picky eater. It can be entertaining when she is giving her order to a waitress at a restaurant. When I would be cooking supper, I knew that she would ask what I was making. When she would ask, “What is it?” (which BTW, is what the word Manna means, the Israelites didn’t know what it was), or “What are you cooking?” I learned to just say, “Chicken.” She liked chicken. She has had all kinds of things that she thought was chicken: tuna, salmon, pork, rabbit. And, she would eat it. The Israelites don’t want to eat the Manna. It seems that they don’t even want to look at it. This is God’s gift to sustain them in the wilderness. It comes every morning, except on the Sabbath. It is a dependable food supply in the midst of nowhere. They’ve complained before about it. Well, this time God gets very angry. They are rejecting his gift, the miracle of the manna. And, Moses, we are told, is “displeased.”

What is entertaining in this text is that God and Moses go into one of their dialogues (they too can be childish). Moses, the most important person in all of Judaism, tells God: “Why are you doing this to me? The burden of the people, they are terrible! All they do is complain, they are never satisfied, and they blame me!! Do me a favor just kill me, and get it over with. Don’t leave me in this misery.” God decides to have compassion on Moses, if not the Israelites, spread the authority, and the responsibility around a bit. Pick 70 elders (in most organizations, you don’t get help unless you ask for it). God’s “spirit rests on them, and they prophesy.” But, two were in the camp, late for the meeting. The spirit rests on them too. And for this, Joshua is upset, “jealous” for Moses’ sake. However, Moses is glad, “I wish that all were prophets. Then all would know, and have a stronger faith in God.” The same Spirit of God rests on us, in faith – through baptism and through the Lord’s Supper.

That brings us to the Gospel lesson: Someone is casting out demons in Jesus’ name. John is the tattletale. But Jesus’ response is surprisingly, “Don’t stop him!” It sounds like Moses’ answer.

Again, the issue is good and evil, and the question of authority, ultimately God’s authority. It is done in Christ’s name. His is the authority. “Whoever is not against us, is for us,” that’s an interesting line coming from Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior. But, here is the thing that some don’t understand. Christ may start out on the periphery of a person’s life, like this unknown exorcist, but in time, in faith, as faith increases, Christ becomes the center of a person’s life. “For no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.” So there.

It is a process, faith, beginning at baptism, and continuing throughout a person’s life. Like a tree; in baptism or upon hearing the Gospel, the seed is planted, and slowly, with nurture in faith, it will grow to fruition, literally, the bearing of fruit, good fruit.

Then, there is that bit about salt. Jesus said, “Everyone is salted with fire.” That is a strange saying. Salt and fire are two of the ancient cleansing agents. The other two were water and smoke. They were used for processes of purifying something, to cast out evil. We are salted with the Holy Spirit, which rests upon us. We have that “salt” or spirit within ourselves. Now, if we take the remainder of the text literally, we are to be the seasoning for the rest of the world, to add a bit more of Christ’s flavoring to the world’s mix. If you watch cooking shows on television, like I do, you may notice that the cooks use lots of salt in their recipes, and often salts something several times. Often, more salt than I would consider using. Jesus uses billions of us on the world! Now, let us prepare to be salted some more, to receive another dash of salt of the Spirit, if you will, and with it the gifts of the Spirit, and Christ’s authority, as we come forward to receive Our Lord’s body and blood in His Holy Supper, to strengthen us in faith, and prepare and sustain us in the work for the kingdom of God. For we all are called to recognize the authority of Christ, who empowers us to work in his kingdom, and against the evil which we may encounter. Come forward to be salted, strengthened, and share in his Gospel to and for this world.
Pastor Rose

September 19 Worship Service

Our September 19 Sunday worship service is available on video through Facebook. You may view it without being a member of Facebook. We are excited to say that our Sunday 8 & 10:30 am services are open again for in-person worship. Services will continue to be streamed online.

Click on picture to view video

The September 26 Sunday worship service will be held with in-person attendance. We have returned to regular in-person worship services. With an upturn in county COVID cases, we recommend masks even for those who are vaccinated.

It is scheduled to be streamed live on the DeSoto Redeemer Facebook page. We will post a direct link to the recording here as soon as it is possible after the service.

We are glad to share our worship with you. Click on “Contact Us” above to find out more about our faith family and what we believe.

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

The Gospel lesson: Jesus is continuing his journey from the Gentile lands, now through Galilee, and back to Capernaum. Mark’s Gospel is pretty much one long journey through the Holy Land. Now at Capernaum, where it can be argued that Jesus has a house (I always liked the thought of Jesus as a homeowner. Somewhere in Christian history, we started thinking of him as a sort of homeless preacher. And for some reason, it has stayed with us.), Jesus continues his teaching to the disciples. But, the teaching has taken a turn from what he taught to this point.

While they were traveling, Jesus was instructing them on what to expect to happen to him. “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands (I wonder if Judas Iscariot was listening to that part – I’ll have to pick up a copy of the apocryphal Gospel of Judas and read it). That he will be killed, and three days later, he will rise again. In last week’s lesson, Mark told us that he tells them this quite plainly. That might also be why he doesn’t want anyone to know where he is, doesn’t want to attract a crowd, just wants to tell his chosen disciples. Part of that Secret of Jesus’ Messiahship Theme which we find in Mark’s account.

How do the disciples take this teaching? “They did not understand what he was saying, and were afraid to ask him.” For a teacher, this is very upsetting. I used to end every lecture at the college with the question, “Are there any questions?” And, I really didn’t like it when I got only empty stares, because then I knew that they didn’t understand all of the material. I often get the same response in Confirmation Class. But, at least they usually have nothing to gauge the information against. The disciples are like this, just blank stares. They don’t get it. And more importantly, at this point, they don’t believe it! It would seem that through this whole journey, through the Gentile lands and back home, Jesus is trying to prepare them, and get it through their thick heads. It’s not working. The disciples won’t really understand until after Jesus is resurrected, but even then, he will have to explain it all over to them once more.
When they get to Capernaum, their base of operations, it is obvious that the disciples aren’t getting a whole lot of what Jesus has tried to teach them. They were arguing along the way over who will be the greatest among themselves. When Jesus queries them on their discussion, in shame probably, they are silent, again. I think they had a rough idea of what he was going to say to them.

But, Jesus goes for an object lesson instead. Those of you with children have a good idea of what is going on. You hear the kids arguing, or fighting, you go to see what is up, and very quickly, they are all little angels and silent. That’s when you know they have been up to no good. And, they know it too. We don’t have a child in the house anymore. We have something worse. We have a kitten. And when you don’t see her, and don’t hear her, that’s when you have to go and see what she is up to. It is usually something that you really don’t want her to do. The other night, I caught her pulling on the chain and rewinding the cuckoo clock! And then, she looked at me all innocent, and ran to the other room. The disciples know that they are out of line, but how to correct them?

“Make a circle, and bring me that child over there.” Notice that Jesus didn’t call for a kitten! “The first must be last and servant of all.” In the midst of the circle, Jesus embraces the child. “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me.” And children, in that place and time, were considered the least (often, literally, overlooked), not like we tend to treat them today. A better translation of what Jesus says here would be, “Whoever receives one in the character of this child.” There’s another part to this object lesson. What happens when you hug a child? They usually hug back, it is natural. Looking at the way I translated the verse, is it like the child being embraced, or the one who receives the child? It is in the character of both. They are embracing. And there is the object lesson. Who receives Christ, and by extension, the Father, who embraces each other, welcomes each other, enfolds each other.

The disciples, in their dispute, have been doing the opposite. When we argue, we do not embrace, we push away, often at arms length, think of the expression “when push comes to shove.” Where do disputes and conflicts come from? James answers today, “You covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.” The disciples wanted to be first. Well, for that, you have to be last. That is the rule. It runs against our nature, but everything of a divine nature is contrary to our nature.

How are we to act towards one another in faith? Not by disputing who is the greatest, where the disciples fall far short today, holding each other out at arms’ length. No, we receive and embrace even those who we normally consider the least among us, in the character of the child, open. Then, we also receive and embrace Christ, and the One who sent him. After all, it is He who first embraced us. Go therefore, embrace the world, and embody the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Pastor Rose