Prayer Before Worship:   Heavenly Father, as I come to worship this day, forgive my sin of slowness to love others as myself, and my fear of sharing Your love.  As I confess my sin in worship and receive Your absolution, renew me with stronger love for You and for the people around me.  Since Your love, Lord Jesus, was not just in words, but in actions as You went to the cross for me, so may my love for others be shown in actions of love.  Amen.

In Today’s Worship:    Jesus sends out seventy-two people to go ahead of Him, two by two, to every place where He Himself was about to go.  We might, at times, wish that we could have been there, to hear a clear directive from Jesus, to be sent on a mission by Jesus, in person. We imagine how strong we would be and how purposeful the mission would be if Jesus standing right there had told us.  Yet, for the seventy-two, tumult lay ahead. It was not so easy for them.  So, to those who listen through almost deaf ears, and follow with almost broken bodies, who look through dimmed eyes, to those who have lived amongst the wolves, and not quite made it out of town before being shoved back into that dust, to those Jesus speaks peace through this message of the cross, “Hush now, the reign of God has come near to you.”

We welcome our guest speaker today, Pastor Lynn Podoll.  Pastor Podoll has served several congregations as pastor for over 50 years.  He is retired and lives in Cleveland.  He will share with us a sermon message entitled, “The Greatest Joy in the World” based on today’s Gospel reading.