Sermon Tone Analysis

Prelude Welcome          *Call to Worship                      *Honor your father and mother.

Love your neighbor as yourself.’”*

Matthew 19:*19

*~*Hymn of Praise*                    # 198               Spirit of God

                        Invocation        (the Lord’s Prayer) O God, in Jesus Christ we pray that we may each feel

                                the touch of your hands on our heads, the peace of your presence in our hearts, and the growing

                                 hope that comes from experiencing your life among us.

*Responsive Psalm* 47 Clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with loud songs of joy.

*For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome, a great king over all the earth *He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

*God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet.**

*Sing praises to God, Sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.

*The shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted.*

Our  *Offering** *to God              Our gifts are part of our faithfulness.

Your offering will now be received.

*Doxology*

*Prayer of Dedication* O God, just as you bring your love to the world, so we bring our gifts    to add to that love.

Receive them now, we pray.

*~*Hymn of Prayer        *            *Open Our Eyes*

Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus,

to reach out and touch Him, and say that we love Him.

Open our ears, Lord, and help us to listen,

open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus.

*Pastoral Prayer          *Great and gracious God, we thank you for seeking us out, for pursuing us with care and purpose, for celebrating at our reunion, and for loving us fiercely.

O Source of all nurture and care, we ask your blessing on mothers today.

We pray for the gift of our mothers, and for all those who mothered us along our journey.

We pray for those for whom this is a difficult day: those who miss their mothers; those who are estranged from their mothers; those who long to be parents; and those who gave up that hope long ago.

We pray you would grant patience, peace and strength to all of us, regardless of family circumstance.

\\ Gentle and nurturing God, we pray for those we know who are hurting: those people who struggle with illness; those who know the pain of death; those who feel trapped under the weight of addiction or depression; those who struggle just to find the place where they belong.

Embrace them with your healing.

Help them find their way to you and your marvelous light; or, if darkness is all that they can see right now, we ask you simply to make your gentle presence known to them.

Comfort those people who know only lost-ness.

\\ And we pray, gracious God, for those we do not know, who suffer hunger, war and injustice half a world away.

At times, O God, the suffering of the world seems overwhelming.

And yet, we are not a “lost cause” — you provide us with hope and a vision for a better world.

\\ Help us to embrace that vision in our lives.

Help us to lose ourselves in your love.

Help us to find refuge in your steadfast peace.

We pray in the name of Jesus, who is our peace.

Amen.

\\ *~*Hymn of Praise*                    # 151               Beneath the Cross of Jesus

*Scripture Reading*                  John 19:17-27

*Message*                                 On Your Mark… Get Set…

Last week we reminded ourselves of the mark of Jesus Christ by wearing a cross, and recognizing that we physically prepare by getting on our mark.

As we get set we prepare ourselves emotionally, spiritually, and mentally  for that which is to come.

Today we come again to Calvary.

We see Jesus on the cross.

And as we come near to Him, we see two groups of four standing before the cross.

\\ On one side we see four soldiers.

They are the ones who had escorted Jesus to this place of crucifixion.

One of the perks or benefits of this duty was that they got the clothes of the victim.

Like every Jew of his day, Jesus wore five articles of clothing - shoes, a turban, a girdle, a tunic, and an outer robe.

Roman soldiers in charge of crucifixions customarily took for themselves the clothes of the condemned men.

They divided Jesus’ clothing, each getting one article then throwing dice to determine who would get his seamless garment, the most valuable piece of clothing.

This fulfilled the prophecy in Psalm 22:18.

~/~/  How sad, here before them hung the Savior of the world, the Son of God, the one who was offering them the riches of His kingdom.

And they could see no further than a few articles of clothing to take home or sell.

Their greed for that which was so unimportant, their indifference to the suffering of the one who hung before them.

How sad? \\ Over to the other side stood four women.

In contrast, to the soldiers, their eyes were not on the things of the world, they were not there to see what they could get.

They were there because they loved their Lord and could not desert Him as so many others had done.

It was dangerous, not a safe thing to do: For Jesus had been labeled a criminal, a rebel, a heretic.

To identify with Him also made you like Him.

They too could have been arrested and crucified.

There was a risk to come forward to be near Him in His time of agony, but they could not stay away for they loved Him, and trusted Him, even when all seemed hopeless.

\\ Four women.

\\ His mother, Mary, who had given birth to Him and who had nurtured Him.

Does anyone suffer more than a mother when a child suffers or is lost?

\\ His mother’s sister, and Mary, the wife of Clopas, of whom we know nothing else but that they were there.

\\ Mary Magdelene All we know about her is that Jesus had cast out seven demons from her.

She could never forget what Jesus had done for her, how His love had saved her.

\\ There they stood near the cross.

Jesus saw them, -- He saw His mother and near them, He saw the disciple whom He loved.

All the other disciples had run away out of fear.

But this disciple did not.

He had a special relationship with Jesus.

The love was mutual.

The disciple, most scholars agree, was John.

That is why John could write about this private moment by the cross.

Even while dying on the cross, Jesus was concerned about his family.

He instructed John to care for Mary, Jesus’ mother.

Our families are precious gifts from God, and we should value and care for them under all circumstances.

Neither Christian work nor key responsibilities in any job or position excuse us from caring for our families.

What can you do today to show your love to your family?

~/~/ Jesus, seeing these two who He loved so much, said to them "Dear woman, here is your son" and to John , "Here is your mother."

These words are very personal and they may even seem unusual.

But they teach us some very important things about Jesus and about ourselves \\ Here was Jesus.

The brutality of the cross was unbearable.

The pain of the stripes where He had been whipped, The thorns of His crown piercing into His head, The nails which had been driven into His hands and ankles.

The death He would soon go through.

Not to mention the weight of the sins of the world.

And the sense of being forsaken by His Father.

\\ You and I have never and will never experience the suffering that our Lord went through.

But we have suffered to varying degrees.

There is something I notice when we suffer.

When we feel pain, it is hard to look beyond the pain.

And it is hard to care for others when our own world is falling apart.

When all is well, we try to be there for others, to reach out in love, but when our needs and suffering is great, others can become a bother.

And we often respond with "Leave me alone, I’ve got my own problems, can’t you see." \\ But Jesus, although His pain and needs are so overwhelming, still looks beyond Himself and sees the pain and the needs of others.

He sees a mother who is about to loose her oldest son.

He wants to make sure that she is taken care of and looked after.