Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

Proper 12

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:  Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.  Amen

.Hosea 1:2-10 . . . Hosea takes a prostitute to be his wife, exemplifying God’s enduring love for a transgressing people.
Psalm 85 , , , Celebration and prayer for God’s forgiveness, deliverance, and justice
Colossians 2:6-15 (16-19) . , , The new disciples at Colossae are urged to remain rooted in Christ, letting nothing detract from his uniqueness and rooted in Christ, letting nothing detract from his uniqueness and preeminence.
Luke 11:1-13 . . . Jesus teaches his disciples about prayer and the character of God as Father.
Two Sermons, one Baptist, the other Catholic preached in the same town on the same day.

1)  “Are you satisfied with your prayer life? Would you be surprised to know that, according to one survey, very few Protestant ministers are satisfied with their personal prayer lives? ”  Dr. Jim Somerville, Pastor of Richmond’s First Baptist Church preaches a sermon from Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer. Somerville, when describing his own prayer life, said, “All I really needed [to make it better] was a decision, some discipline, and A Guide to Prayer.” Jesus gives his disciples a guide to prayer in today’s passage. Listen and learn more about the Lord’s Prayer and how it can guide the way we pray

 2) “Is there anything more intimate than to hear the heartbeat of another person?…Can human beings desire anything more than to be held so close and know that they are so loved?” says Father Michael Renninger, Pastor of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Richmond, Virginia. Preaching on the Lord’s Prayer, he continues, “Many saints have suggested that Jesus taught us all we need to know in the very first words of this prayer. He taught us to pray, ‘Our Father’”. Renninger invites us to take time every day this week to be still and say just “Our Father,” to call God by name and see what happens. Perhaps we can gain a better sense of the fact that God’s love is universal, God is “our Father,” not “my Father.”