July Calendar 2026

 Worship Bulletin

Children Bulletin

All of us, no matter what our age, are consumers. All of us are constantly exposed to advertising — in the newspapers and magazines, on radio and TV, on billboards, and in the cir­culars and magazines that come into our homes by mail. We are constantly being urged to buy goods and services, to invest some of our resources for a return in the future, to indulge ourselves in food, drink, or entertainment to satisfy some of the desires that we have. Almost all of us, I’m sure, have been stung in our purchases or payments more than a few times. The toy we bought began to fall apart almost as soon as the kids began to play with it. The appliance we bought needed several service calls before it began to do its job properly. The car in which we put a sizeable portion of our savings turned out to be a lemon. And frequently the medicine or health product we saw advertised, bought, and tried turned out not really to help all that much.

And in recent years especially we have learned that things are not always as represented by the government, by the news media, and by the major institutions in the fields of education, medicine, or science. The confidence of people in the institutions which have been considered the very foundation of our society has been declining steadily, and to a great extent we have become a nation of skeptics, we are willing to trust some of the people some of the time – but not all of the people all of the time. And if we’re not yet ready to sign up as recruits for Nader’s Raiders, we at least are more willing and ready to concede that a great many things are not to be taken at face value and we do well to maintain a healthy skepticism towards claims and offers.

But now along comes Christ with his Outrageous Claims.

“All things have been delivered 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.”

Now really…. It is not likely that even some of the outlandish religious hucksters and prophets of the recent years have dared to go that far. Christ says in effect, ‘I’ve got it all — the Father has delivered the whole business into my hands.” The business he’s talking about is what the Father, Lord of heaven and earth, chose to hide from the wise and understanding and to reveal to the babes. Chose to hide from those who were arrogant in their wisdom and to let those who were eager to learn, to know.

To know what??? It was the knowledge of God as the Father. We may be among the 90% of Americans that give an affirmative answer in a poll to the question, “Do you believe in God?” But it’s another thing altogether to know God as the Father that Jesus Christ revealed him to be. God as creator, preserver, provider, lawgiver, judge — that’s awesome indeed. God as eternal almighty, all-knowing, all-seeing, omnipresent — that’s almost frightening. The God of the burning bush and the fiery furnace and the smoking mountaintop — who really wants to get very close to such a God?

But a God who is a Father is something else. a God who was loving was something totally new. This is what Jesus came to reveal. He alone could address the Lord of Heaven and Earth as Father in such a way that no one else preceeding or following him could do and he tells us that the knowledge of that Father comes through him. For the inadequacy of the words God had had his prophets use to communicate to men his nature and attitude toward his creation and creatures led him to choose to speak to the world in the person of his Son, his word for the world. John in his gospel put it this way; “The word became a human being and lived among us.”

And it was in that living in the flesh that Christ wore as our brother that he demonstrated repeatedly the validity of his claims. The miracles of healing the sick, power over nature, and finally defeating death all give credence to Christ’s claims of being unique with God. Where we are skeptical about a lot of things, our faith leads us to accept these claims and then lets us listen to the fantastic offer which Christ makes.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

This really sounds like one of those too – good – to – be – true offers! Why there is no catch, no entrance fee, nothing to buy or to sell to qualify. He just invites us to come to him, all of us who have problems or are tired of being pushed around by life and need help. He knows where we are in the world all the time, and he knows how desperately we need the comfort and hope that an offer like this brings. He knows what it will do for whoever accepts it. That’s why there’s no qualification, no catch, no fine print. It is a universal offer, with nothing for us to do to receive it.

He says, “Here, let me take your problems. Let me take all that burden of sin and shame and guilt and fear. Let me take it to the cross for you, for I’m going there to show the Father’s love for all his children. Here., you rest now from all your worries.”

In place of all our worries, he offers us a yoke. a partnership, a relationship, fellowship with himself, the opportunity to learn from him and to work with him. Come along with me, he says. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Learn that love that frees. Know what it means to be a child of the gospel and not a slave to the law. This is what Paul means when he says at the end of our second lesson, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. For taking the burden from me of the war between that what I want to do and that what I don’t want to do.”

We have been made free from that battle. We have been made right with God. Christ has made it possible for us to forget our obsession with ourselves. He has made it possible for us to be victorious over death and live with him and his Father in heaven eternally.

Too good to be true? No way, and think of the joy that comes in the belief – of this message. And the freedom from skepticism in our lives with God. Amen.

As We Gather

Prayer Before Service

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. Amen.

Historical Notes:
This collect is a beloved prayer from the modern Lutheran liturgical tradition and appears in Lutheran service books for occasions including Christian life’s pilgrimage toward eternal rest. Its language reflects the rich heritage of historic Western collects, especially the calm realism and confident hope. God’s mercy sustains His people through every stage of life until He finally grants the eternal rest and joy promised in Christ.