Second Sunday after Pentecost June 14, 2020WORDS OF GREETING: Good morning! Thank you for taking time to worship with us this morning. We come with open hearts to hear God’s word for us, trusting that we will be filled anew with the Holy Spirit for the coming week.

OPENING PRAYERO Lord, we enter this time of worship deeply in need of your calming presence. So we come seeking your presence and your guidance. We would normally enter your holy temple together to be the body of Christ that you called us to be. But these are not normal times. Covid 19 has disrupted our lives. The cries of those asking for justice sound in our ears. We wonder when the turmoil will end. We ask that you lead us as Jesus led the disciples, sending them to harvest the lost souls. May we learn patience and strength of character as we live each day. Our trust is in you through faith, and we hope for days when your ways become the ways of our world. In the name of Jesus, our Savior, we pray. Amen. FIRST READING Romans 5: 1-8PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLEO God of grace abounding and love unlimited, we thank you for your infinite mercy. You are the source of our life and faith through all our days, and before that, through the days of our ancestors. When the whip of Pharaoh held Israel in bondage, you broke the yoke of the tyrant, and the prisoners escaped. When the exiles in Babylon trembled before their captors, you raised up a deliverer, and the refugees returned. And when their descendants believed their sin had doomed them to life without hope, you sent your Son, and the hopeless rejoiced. Not only did you redeem them from their sin, but you reconciled them in the midst of their sin. We thank you, dear Lord, that where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.You call us to be a priestly people and a holy nation, but we, like lost sheep, go astray. We know that peace comes through openness to our neighbors, but we make little effort to crash the walls between us. We know that the soft answer turns away wrath, but we greet our enemies with hard words and even harder looks. We know that self-giving breeds self-givers, but we refuse others

the grace with which you treat us. We criticize fellow believers for not patterning their lives after Jesus, yet we do not mirror his life. Forgive us, O God, for our betrayal of your call. Let us take our place at the foot of the mountain of revelation. Open our ears that we might hear your commandments. Transform our hearts that we might keep your covenant. Let us now, as when we first believed, exclaim, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient."As we think of your other sheep who have gone astray, we think of ourselves as your instruments for bringing them home. If they tarry for a sympathizing tear, let us shed it without shame. If they wait for a soothing word, let us speak it without hesitation. If they desire a cup of water, let us offer it without delay. If they hunger for a decent meal, let us provide it without suspicion. Knowing that you are not impressed by gracious words without generous deeds, make us instruments of your grace in speech and in action. We are your people, O God; grant us the wisdom to affirm your claim upon us. We await your revealing word; grant us the sensitivity to hear your demands in clear and compelling language. We long to do your will on earth as in heaven, our Heavenly Father; grant us the courage to fail neither you nor your children. Amen. And together, we pray, the prayer taught to the disciples by your Son Jesus, beginning:

THE LORD’S PRAYEROur 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 sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen GOSPEL LESSON Matthew 9:35 – 10:8SERMON See All the People Pastor LyleBENEDICTIONThe fields of peace and justice and love are not ripe unto harvest. They have been plowed and planted, but they have yet to be cultivated with care and diligence. Send us forth into those fields, O God, as laborers in your service. Let them be made ready for the harvest. Let us and our neighbors around the globe live in love and peace, with justice for all. Amen.

Our Prayer List:Janie Buchter – continued doctoring for heart issues Sylvia Geib – seeing surgeon Ernie Dunkelberger – recovering from pneumonia Larry Derr – death of companion Nancy, Glenn Shaffer – abdominal pain Risa Overly – surgeries July 1st & 15th Mary Zellers – kidney issues

Pastor Lyle is in his office Tuesdays10-2 and Thursdays 1-4. If needed otherwise, please feel free to call (610) 507-2750 (cell) or (610) 777-2294 (home). Video of the Sunday message is posted our church Facebook page and audio on the church website (www.wiestchurch.org). 

SUNDAY MORNING OFFERINGOFFERING AMT NEEDED EACH WEEK       $1,567OFFERING June 7th (FB online/mail worship)  $1,876     AMT OF OFFERING NEEDED TO DATE     $34,474AMT RECEIVED TO DATE…                         $38,375

BUDGET YTD +$3901These figures include offerings received up to June 7th; offerings by mail or dropped off at church. Thank you for your faithfulness. I will update each week.Our team to plan return to on site worship met on June 4th. We are still not able to worship together. When we do, worship will be different. Health concerns will require us to avoid close personal contact (maintain social distance); discontinue fellowship time temporarily; wear facial coverings while together, and do additional cleaning after services. We do not have a date picked out for resumption of worship together. I will continue to provide updates as our situation unfolds. I thank you for your desire to be together and for your patience while we are apart. Bible study has resumed on Tuesdays at 9:30 here at the church. There will be no refreshments; social distancing and face coverings will be necessary.Thank you for those who have shared their favorite verses. I would like to preach some of them this summer. Please email them to me; call me with them or drop me a note with them. This seems like a good time for us to remember and share themScriptures for next week are: Genesis 21:8-21; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17; Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39. SERMON SUMMARY for Sunday June 14, 2020 – Second Sunday after Pentecost

See All the PeopleIn 1901 President William B. McKinley visited Niagara Falls. Encouraged by his entourage, he agreed to walk across the bridge connecting the United States with Canada. Great excitement prevailed, until he suddenly halted near the center of the bridge and returned home. McKinley explained that he did not want to be the first president to leave the boundaries of the United States while still in office. President McKinley went half way and then turned around and returned from where he had come. Have you ever felt like you had gone only half way to where you needed to go? I have; and to be honest I feel that way now. I am critical of my actions or rather my lack of action.Matthew’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was travelling through the countryside stopping in the towns and villages along the way. He taught in their meeting places; reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies; their bruised and hurt lives. As he travelled, taught and healed he was among the people. And while among them, he saw all the people. He saw their hurt, their brokenness; their loneliness and despair. And because he saw them and their need he called his disciples to go among them. These disciples were not powerful men of authority, but ordinary people, just like you and me. He gave them power to kick out the evil spirits and to tenderly care for the bruised and hurt lives. And he told them to begin right where they were, in their own neighborhoods!Are there people in our neighborhoods that are hurting; lonely and in need of being seen? And do we hold back because they may be different from us; unchurched, of a different faith; skin of a different color; or speak another language? Do we judge them without really knowing them and seeing them as created by God?When I am honest with myself, I admit that I am guilty of being prejudiced at times. I am disappointed in my thinking and my lack of compassion and action. President McKinley went half way across the bridge and turned around. It is my hope to turn around my thinking and continue on; to see the people on the other side of the bridge.

And Paul gives me hope. He says that if I have faith in God’s promises, I can have real peace with him because Jesus died for my sins. I can confess them; ask forgiveness and turn to new ways. It will not be easy for me (us?) to change but Paul says that we are to rejoice when we encounter problems and trials. I don’t know if rejoice is the word I would choose. But he tells us that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. Now I admit that I can certainly use patience. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. The Holy Spirit can actually fill our hearts. No, it will not be easy. But with patience and persistence, there is hope; for us and for those who although different, are the same as us; children of God.Jesus calls us to follow him. We cannot go halfway, nor can we turn around. We must persevere, surmounting every obstacle placed in our path. Let us be undaunted in our mission. Let us confess our prejudices; ask forgiveness and be the people of God. May we see all the people and treat them as the people of God that we all are. Amen. Pastor Scruffy