July 6, 2025 – Fourth Sunday after Pentecost / Proper 9

Lectionary Readings

Semicontinuous
2 Kings 5:1–14
Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the Jordan; he is cured of leprosy.

Psalm 30
O Lord, you brought me up from the grave; my soul praises you.   

Complementary
Isaiah 66:10–14
Rejoice with Jerusalem; I will bless and comfort her, says the Lord. 

Psalm 66:1–9
Make a joyful noise to God; come and see what God has done. 

Galatians 6:(1–6) 7–16
Bear one another’s burdens; in this way you fulfill the law of Christ.

Luke 10:1–11, 16–20
Jesus appoints seventy, sending them out as laborers into the harvest.

— Gathering —

Opening Sentences

God hears our cries
and restores our troubled souls.
We can’t keep silent. 
We sing God’s praises with joy!
God nurses and comforts us
until our hearts are strong like mountains.
We can’t keep silent. 
We sing God’s praises with joy!
God’s love sustains us to flourishing. 
We can’t keep silent.
We sing God’s praises with joy!

Prayer of the Day

You are the God who makes miracles,
the one who turns the sea into dry land,
mourning into dancing,
enemies into friends,
and empires into dust.
You ask the simple things from us:
to eat each other’s foods
and enjoy each other’s company.
You ask the hard things from us:
to love one another,
embrace our differences,
and seek forgiveness.
Transform us to find hope where there is despair
and passion where there is apathy.
Give us trust in your abundance
and grant us patience when we see only scarcity,
that we might answer your call to be laborers 
in the fields you are sowing. Amen.  

Hymn, Psalm, or Spiritual Song

Thanksgiving for Baptism

At the baptismal font:
The Lord be with you. And also with you.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
O Lord our God, we give you thanks
for the grace that is at work in us
through the gift of our baptism—
the sign of your threefold name,
the communion of your faithful people,
the promise of your glorious realm.
By the power of your Holy Spirit,
poured out upon us in baptism,
let your grace and peace grow in us,
until we gather at your heavenly throne
to give you thanks and praise forever;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Confession and Pardon

At the baptismal font:
Jesus calls us to enter the joy of discipleship,
the joy of following in his way.
But sin clings closely,
and we struggle to respond fully
to Christ’s invitation.
Let us seek God’s forgiveness
so that we may know more deeply
the joy God intends.

God of perfect love,
you continually bring forth life,
transforming sadness to joy,
and despair to hope.
We are weak,
but you are strong.
Our ways are flawed,
but your ways are true.
We are seldom right,
but you are never wrong.
Forgive us, redeem us, transform us.
Take away the sin that burdens us,
and restore us to the people
you would have us be,
for the sake of Jesus Christ our Savior.

Lifting water from the font:
Relentlessly God seeks us out.
With abundant grace and boundless mercy,
God seeks us out.
This is good news!
In Jesus Christ we are forgiven!

— Word —

Prayer for Illumination

At the lectern or pulpit:
Faithful God, how blessed are those
who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Sanctify us by your Word and Spirit
so that we may glorify you
in the company of the faithful;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Scripture

Before the readings: 
At the crossroads wisdom calls. 
Proverbs 8:1–2

After the readings: 
The wisdom of God for all people; 
the call of God for all who live. 
Thanks be to God.
Proverbs 8:4

Sermon

Ascription of Praise

After the sermon:
How majestic is the name 
of the Lord our God! Amen.
Psalm 8:1

Hymn, Psalm, or Spiritual Song

Affirmation of Faith

The life, death, resurrection,
and promised coming of Jesus Christ
has set the pattern for the church’s mission.
His human life involves the church
in the common life of all people.
His service to men and women
commits the church
to work for every form of human well-being.
His suffering makes the church sensitive
to all human suffering
so that it sees the face of Christ
in the faces of persons in every kind of need.
His crucifixion discloses to the church
God’s judgment on the inhumanity
that marks human relations,
and the awful consequences
of the church’s own complicity in injustice.
In the power of the risen Christ
and the hope of his coming,
the church sees the promise
of God’s renewal of human life in society
and of God’s victory over all wrong.
The church follows this pattern
in the form of its life
and in the method of its action.
So to live and serve
is to confess Christ as Lord.
Adapted from the Confession of 1967, 9.32–33