Call to Worship
(Deborah Sokolove, The Abingdon Worship Annual)
God’s love is
steadfast, inviting us to rejoice and find eternal life in love of God and
others.
The Holy One calls us
to trust God’s steadfast love. With our ancestor Abraham, we say: “Here I
am.”
The Holy One calls us
to be guided by prophets. With the first followers of Jesus, we say: “Here I
am.”
The Holy One calls us
into eternal life. With the Gospel writers, we say: “Here I am.”
Let us worship the
God who calls us. Amen.
My thought about the response above is that my “Here I am.” is
not complete. There's much I hold back, even if I'm sincere as I say the words,
within a moment I am protecting the part of me I want to keep control over.
Hymn TIS 102: “Praise to the living
God”
Opening prayer
Wellspring of Grace,
Teacher of Truth, Breath of Resurrection, you welcome us into your life, and
invite us to welcome others with a cup of water, a bite of bread, a moment of
conversation. As we drink from the overflowing spring of your endless love,
fill our hearts with thanksgiving and joy, that we may become the body of
Christ pouring our lives into a world that yearns to be filled. Amen.
Another chance to lay all on my God but am I ready to let God
be my Lord and King?
A Prayer of Confession
Teacher of
Truth, you tell us to welcome prophets and teachers, and to give to those in
need.
Yet we want to hug
your salvation to ourselves and keep your gifts for our own use.
You call us to be
servants of your teaching, and to remember that we are no longer slaves to sin.
Yet we want to
continue doing what we have always done before, hanging onto old habits and
opinions, even when you show us a better way.
You even offer us
eternal life when we surrender to your will.
Forgive us, Holy One,
when we mistake our will for your own. Amen.
The very prayer of confession needed for someone like me. Can
I make it mine?
Declaration of Forgiveness
God is a wellspring
of grace, offering the gift of eternal life to all who do God’s will. In the
name of Christ, we are forgiven, loved, and free.
Thanks, be to God!
Amen.
Eternal life, in the
here and now. An offer of liberty but still we hesitate. Why?
The Peace
In gratitude
for the gift of eternal life, let us greet one another with signs of peace. The
peace of Christ be with you.
The peace of Christ
be with you always.
At least God’s grace allows us to open our hearts to our
neighbours.
Offering
Pentecost God, take
our hearts and set them on fire. Take our lives and transform them. Take our
church and resurrect it with your life-giving Spirit. Take our gifts and use
them for the fulfillment of your vision of peace and unity.
Giving of our gifts is so easy compared with the giving of
ourselves.
Offering Prayer
God of grace
and truth, you welcome us into your presence and provide refreshment and
renewal for our lives in Jesus, your Son, our Lord. Receive and bless
these gifts and our lives which we offer in response to your many gracious
gifts to us. May our hands be always open to welcome people in Jesus’ name.
Amen
Grace enough to acknowledge Gods great gifts to us. But can
we take our hands off the wheel of our lives and give God full control.
Hymn TIS 129: “Amazing grace”
The Service of Holy Communion
The Great
Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to
the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is a right, good,
and a joyful thing always and everywhere to give our thanks to you, who saved
Abraham from sacrificing his beloved son, Isaac, and has given us the gift of
eternal life in Christ. We give you thanks for freedom and friendship, for love
and for laughter, for parents and children who travel together in the ways of
peace. We give you thanks for new understandings of ancient stories, for happy
endings and new beginnings, for cups of cold water on hot, sunny days. And so,
with your creatures on earth and all the heavenly chorus, we praise your name
and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy,
holy Lord, God of power and might, Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the one
who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!And we can say this with the greatest authenticity while
still holding back. The service continued:….
Invitation to
Communion
Are you hungry for
God? Come to the bread of life. Are you in need of forgiveness? Come to the
table of grace. Are you empty and alone?
At the deepest level…yes, sometimes.
Come to the feast of
love. Come, even when naked and vulnerable, for here we are covered with
abundant grace and filled with the goodness of God.
Prayer after
Communion
God of compassion,
through your son, Jesus Christ, you reconciled your people to yourself.
Following his example of prayer and fasting may we obey you with willing
hearts and serve one another in holy love. Amen.
Obey with willing hearts. I mean to.
Sermon
Rev. John referred to
the story of Abraham preparing to sacrifice his son at a time when families
were willing to do just that to gain favour with lifeless deities.
But in this case, the
deity was the Living God and Abraham was shown that such a sacrifice was not
asked for or required.
John continued,
applying the situation to our own lives: “We can let work drive a knife into
the beating heart of a marriage. We can bind our families with cords of anger
and addiction that feel like living death. If we are not aware of or sensitive
to others, we will kill life’s most precious relationships. The story tells us
that God provides a way that leads to life, not death; that sacrifice does not
require the death of a child or a spouse. God calls us to worthy dreams and
ennobled human values. In the thickets of our, often complicated lives, God has
resources offering better ways to live.”
Hymn TIS 585: “I heard the voice of Jesus say”
Music to lead us to prayer
Music to lead us to prayer
Intercessory Prayers
Margaret thanked God
for the security we are given in the face of all that is unGodlike within us
and around us. She asked for God’s direction for all people and gave thanks for
the healing and Grace God gives. She asked for God’s protection for all people
who serve others in places where they could be exposed to violence and then
prayed for those facing the highs and lows of life in sickness and in pain or
travelling the roads, the seas or the skies. We then joined in the Lord’s
Prayer.
Hymn
TIS 650: “Brother, sister,
let me serve you”
Benediction
With prophets and
teachers, and all who seek to do the will of God— let us go forth to fill the
empty cups of all who ask; let us give in the name of the Breath of
Resurrection, the Wellspring of Grace, the Teacher of Truth: The One, Triune
God, who gives eternal life. Let us share the blessings of Christ’s eternal
covenant, and praise God for the Spirit’s call to love and give. Amen.
Hymn TIS 778: “Shalom to you now”
Sung with sincerity
to each other, wishing everyone the highest blessing that God offers.
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