Proper 20 Yr C
Grieve with God

Scripture: September 21, 2025 (Proper 20, Year C)—Jeremiah 8:18-9:1 (image); Psalm 79:1-9 (image); Amos 8:4-7 (image);  Psalm 113 (image); 1 Timothy 2:1-7 (image); and Luke 16:1-13 (image). Also The Third Sunday of Creation. Creation theme: Act.

Additional Creation Reading: A Reading from Prayers of the Social Awakening, Walter Rauschenbusch

The Rev. Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was an American theologian and Baptist pastor who taught at the Rochester Theological Seminary. Rauschenbusch was a key figure in the Social Gospel and single tax movements that flourished in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

O God, we thank thee for this universe, our great home; for its vastness and its riches, and for the manifoldness of the life which teems upon it and of which we are part. We praise thee for the arching sky and the blessed winds, for the driving clouds and the constellations on high. We praise thee for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills, for the trees and for the grass under our feet. We thank thee for our senses by which we can see the splendor of the morning, and hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath of the springtime. Grant us, we pray thee, a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when even the thorn-bush by the wayside is aflame with the glory of God.

Enlarge within us the sense of fellowship with all the living things, our little brothers, to whom thou hast given this earth as their home in common with us. We remember with shame that in the past we have exercised the high dominion of man with ruthless cruelty, so that the voice of the Earth, which should have gone up to thee in song, has been a groan of travail. May we realize that they live not for us alone, but for themselves and for thee, and that they love the sweetness of life even as we, and serve thee in their place better than we in ours.

When our use of this world is over and we make room for others, may we not leave anything ravished by our greed or spoiled by our ignorance, but may we hand on our common heritage fairer and sweeter through our use of it, undiminished in fertility and joy, that so our bodies may return in peace to the great mother who nourished them and our spirits may round the circle of a perfect life in thee.

Additional Creation Reading: A Reading from “Resurrection is Vegetal”, Dong Hyeon Jeong

The Rev. Dr. Dong Hyeon Jeong is a pastor and professor of New Testament Interpretation at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he utilizes such critical interpretive lenses such as postcolonialism, gender and sexuality, socio-economic, race and ethnicity, ableism, and posthumanism/eco-justice. The son of Korean missionaries in the Philippines, Jeong is an ordained elder in the Philippine Central Conference, Manila Episcopal Area, Southwest Philippines Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church.

I love gardening. Touching the soil, seeing and smelling the plants, and eating the fruits of their love teach me every time to be receptive to the presence of the vegetal life. Moreover, recently I have also learned about the importance of accepting decay or death. As a human being, I am fearful of my own death because, as a Christian, I have one life to live with a clear expiration in sight. And yet, plants teach me that decay/death is not the end. They grow their leaves during spring, blossom their flowers during summer, lay down their leaves during the fall, and accept the slumber during winter. Then they rise again as the spring season awakens…

Losing one’s life for the gospel is not a call for meaningless sacrifice or abuse. Rather, it is a reminder to “come and see” (John 1:39) from God’s creation that resurrection is vegetal. We live and die in Christ because, like the plants, we believe in Christ’s promise of renewed life. This renewed life recognizes the joys and pains of the olden days, the deaths that we have had in the past, while believing that we will see the rays of divine light and the joys of the blessed rain in our lives. In all of these, we are invited once again to let go of all of ourselves so we can be buried and be resurrected in Christ.

Collect: Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Creation Collect: Grant us, Creator God, to put wealth to use in relieving the suffering of others; so that we might hold fast to the love that endures; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.

Reflection: 

Track 1: How do we, individually and corporately, embody both lament for the world and the hope that is in Christ?

Track 2: First Timothy 2:1–7 includes some important instructions on prayer: “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone” (1 Tim. 2:1). In particular, the writer encourages us to pray for “kings and all who are in high positions” (2:2). In your own practice of prayer, how do you remember leaders and others in positions of authority in your nation or community? What kind of prayers do you think they need?

For families: Study guide & activities (another guide), group activity, kid video

For children: See family guide/activities (another activity); bulletin; bumble bee

For middlers: See family guide/activities (another activity); bulletin; puzzle

Coloring:  When I am tempted ; 1 Timothy; Jeremiah

For youth: The lesson from Jeremiah can really be a downer. Look closer. Isn't Jeremiah really saying that, although God is disappointed that his people have turned away from him, God is not abandonning them. Now that's the Good News. We can try our best to make God turn away from us—but he won't. He loves us, unconditionally. Is the natural conclusion that, when you are sad, or sorry for your behavior, or in a bad mood, invite God to be with you in your sadness, in your sorrow, in your bad mood. Comments welcome.

In the liturgy, the spiritual and the material are joined in Holy Communion. This reflects the Christian concern with both matter and spirit. We cannot be faithful to the gospel if we limit our values to either one alone. Today’s gospel reading about the unjust steward makes the point that how we use our material wealth is directly related to our relationship with God. If a “worldly” person like the steward uses money to secure friends, how much more should we, the children of God, use our material wealth to gain favor with God and our fellow human beings.

Track 1: The first reading from Jeremiah reveals how the message of God rejecting the kingdom of Judah pained him. The prophet laments the state of his people even though he knows that their suffering is a result of their own choice to reject their God and their refusal to repent.

Track 2: The first reading from the prophet Amos speaks to those whose material greed leads them to ignore the plight of the poor and helpless. He warns that a society that cares primarily for profit and acquisition will be destroyed by its own greed.

Today we continue the series of readings from the first epistle to Timothy. These letters, written after Paul’s death by his followers, give practical advice to Christian communities about church life. The church is to be an intercessory body of people who, through their prayer for all persons (even the emperor, their enemy), are the means of bringing about God’s salvation.

God’s love is for all of creation and we are called in both liturgical worship and daily living to be God’s instrument in bringing everything and everyone into God’s Kingdom.