Trinirty 12 2025

  

The Hymn #343           How Lovely Shines the Morning Star

The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Introit p. 16

Introit

Make haste, O God, to deliver me: 

make haste to help me, O Lord.

Let them be ashamed and confounded: 

that seek after my soul.

Psalm. Let them be turned backward and put to confusion: 

that desire my hurt.

The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 17
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 19

Collect

Almighty and merciful God, of whose only gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may so faithfully serve Thee in this life that we fail not finally to attain Thy heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, who liveth, etc.

The Epistle and Gradual

Gradual

I will bless the Lord at all times: 

His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

V. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: 

the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. 

Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

V. Sing aloud unto God, our Strength: 

make a joyful noise unto the God of Jacob. Hallelujah!

       

The Gospel              

Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed             p. 22

The Sermon Hymn #8     Father Who the Light This Day 

          Miracles from the Savior

The Communion Hymn #                  Holy Holy Holy         

The Preface p. 24
The Sanctus p. 26
The Lord's Prayer p. 27
The Words of Institution
The Agnus Dei p. 28
The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
The Benediction p. 31
Closing Hymn #283       God's Word Is Our Great Heritage

  

 Norma A. Boeckler

In Our Prayers and Announcements

• Medical Treatment -  Dr. Lito Cruz' family, Ed Buck, Lori Howell,  Pastor Jim Shrader and Chris Shrader.  
•  BibleJohn gathered cases and cases of KJV Bibles, mostly Extra Large, but also other sizes for the need, such as children and mothers. John said to me, "They do not know the giver and you do not know the receiver."
  

                        

KJV 2 Corinthians 3:4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

KJV Mark 7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him. 33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it; 37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Twelfth Sunday After Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, who hast created all things: We thank Thee that Thou hast given us sound bodies, and hast graciously preserved our tongues and other members from the power of the adversary: We beseech Thee, grant us Thy grace, that we may rightly use our ears and tongues; help us to hear Thy word diligently and devoutly, and with our tongues so to praise and magnify Thy grace, that no one shall be offended by our words, but that all may be edified thereby, through Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

 Miracles

KJV Mark 7:31 And again, departing from the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. 32 And they bring unto him one that was deaf, and had an impediment in his speech; and they beseech him to put his hand upon him.

Luther: 2. First, the story or example before us is good in itself, for here we see that many persons received the poor man, as though his distress were their own, bringing him to Jesus to be helped. By this, both faith and love are shown to us. Faith, in that they had heard of the Lord before, that he was kind and compassionate, and helped all those who came to him. For the Word must first have been heard, and must first have entered the human heart, showing us the mercy of God in such a way that we depend upon it.

First of all, this miracle is understood - completely wrong. To understand that, we have to work on the errors of the early 20th century, which is when the KJV was revised by "scholars" like Westcott and Hort who mocked and distorted the original text. Two themes began to build during that time (1887 onward). One was Roman Catholicism and the other was rejection of the miraculous in the New Testament, especially in Mark's Gospel. This miracle story is a good example of people today  being puzzled and avoiding the story. The response is negative even today, although the text is quite plain.

Jesus brought the miraculous to the Decapolis, which is where the pigs went berserk and the Syro-Phoenician woman was healed (Lenski). Thus it makes sense that the crowds already had faith in Jesus, so they knew what the Son of God could do. Notice that in our times people look upon their churches with charts, future successful programs, and and expensive advertising. We can easily find photos of enormous buildings emptied because their growth miracles flopped.

The crowd believed because two great miracles had moved them to help this man. Miracles worked for the demoniac and the woman. They had confidence with Jesus, confidence meaning "with faith."

33 And he took him aside from the multitude, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spit, and touched his tongue; 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed, and saith unto him, Ephphatha, that is, Be opened. 35 And straightway his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spake plain. 

Perfectly clear! Jesus put His fingers into the deaf man's ears. The man could not hear and could only be alarmed or confused. People often respond to this negatively, although many a mother or doctor has used a little spit. The deaf man was not very useful until Jesus healed the ability to speak. What burdened the man was simply his hearing and his speaking, but that was everything. 

36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it. 37 And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well; he maketh even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.

Jesus commanded the crowd to keep the miracle to themselves. This created a paradox. Jesus wanted to limit the crowds because they were so excited and eager for more. However, Jesus had a specific time table, because He knew all that would happen.

[Mark 8 follows - Miraculous Feeding]

• Some dates to note -
• Kitchener Ontario vicarage - 1970 - 3,000 members, now torn up for 41 apartments
• St. Thomas Lutheran, Cleveland - torn down for apartments
• St. Timothy Sturgis, Michigan - business office
• Bethany Lutheran Church in Arkansas - 2009 to now. Springdale - 2011 to now, 55 years (with a few gaps).

We are dealing with a lot of technology now, as everyone knows. I began as a vicar leading some of the worship at St. Peter in Kitchener, broadcast over Eastern Canada. My sainted cousin complained because I did not signal him during the lection. I scratched my nose briefly from that time on, and he was pleased. I also introduced the Governor General in the same place. 

Everything was manual up to a point, when we used a telephone to reach others from the Bethany Chapel, New Ulm. That led to a video camera (Phoenix) weekly for the Meyer clan and others. Blogging was less expensive than mimeographs and other tools of the Stone Age. Video services changed from the most blurry and ad-filled to Vimeo to Zoom.