Call to Worship
Here in this place of worship,
with the congregation of the faithful,Here in this place of worship,
we lay down our fears,
to boldly sing God’s praise.
Here in the vineyard of the Lord,
with our sisters and brothers in Christ,
grandparents tell stories of faith
to little ones sitting on their laps.
Here where God waits to serve us at the Table:
we shall be so filled with love
that we will run to serve others.
Prayer of the Day
Teach us to love one another
with that passion which comes
from your overflowing heart, Vine Grower,
so those around us will recognize
us as sisters and brothers,
bound together by your love
not divided by our fears.
Teach us to serve one another
with that compassion which comes
from our broken heart, Vine of our lives,
for the hungry are our brothers,
the immigrants are our sisters,
the homeless are our families.
Teach us include others
with that embracing welcome which comes
from your inviting heart, Fruit-bearing Spirit,
offering forgiveness to those who hurt us,
peace to all filled with hate,
hope to those burdened by despair.
Teach us to understand all we read and hear,
God in Community, Holy in One,
as we pray as Jesus has taught us, saying,
(The Lord’s Prayer)
Call to Reconciliation
The seeds of grace, hope, joy, and love are planted deep with us, so they can bear fruit in our lives. But we resist staying connected to the Vine, thinking we can flourish on our own. Let us confess our sins, so we can once more feel God abiding deep within us. Please join me as we pray, saying,
Unison Prayer for Forgiveness
Mother of Compassion:called to be one body,
we fragment ourselves into a million selfish pieces;
your children of love,
we insist on the right to despise our sisters and brothers;
though your Perfect Love was broken for us,
we are afraid to give of ourselves to the world.
Abide in us, Vine Grower.
Forgive us of our sins,
so we may live boldly,
love fearlessly,
and proclaim unceasingly that Jesus Christ
is our Lord and Savior.Silence is kept
Assurance of Pardon
Do you feel it – there, deep down in your hearts? God’s love is alive, beating, breathing – in you!
Because God abides in us, we can live for others, allowing God’s love to bear fruit in us. Thanks be to God, we are forgiven! Amen.
Prayer of Dedication/Offertory
From you comes every gift we need, every blessing we have. May we not hoard them for ourselves, but offer them back to you, that the poor might be fed, the lonely befriended, and the despairing be filled with hope. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
May the God of searches be with you.
And also with you.
Bring your hearts to the One who loves you.
We offer them so God may plant fruit-bearing seeds in them.
Lift songs of praise to our God.
We will join our hearts and voices in proclaiming,
“God has done it!”
“Get up,” you cried to your Word and Spirit,
“and go down the wilderness road to chaos.”And so they went,
calling forth life out of nothingness,
planting seeds that branched into vines,
pouring clear water into earth’s hollows,
crafting us in your imaginative image.
You showed all of this to us, with delight in your heart,
but we did not understand what we were seeing,
and so chose death and sin
to be our guides in this life.
Though we loved you last, you loved us first,
sending your prophets to declare all you had done,
but we continued to abide
in the tangled briars of temptation.
So you sent Jesus to us,
the One who would bear your fruit
of salvation and hope for all your children.
With those who seem to intuit your hearts,
with those seeking to understand your hopes,
we lift our songs of thanksgiving to you.
Holy, holy, holy are you, God of eunuchs and evangelists.
All creation bears fruit in glorifying you.Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the One who comes to abide in us.
Hosanna in the highest!
Love is your language of holiness, Branch weaving God,
And Jesus Christ, our Savior is the true Vine of your heart.
When we were wandering lost and alone,
trying to understand what we were doing,
he crossed over glory to join us
in this journey we know as life.
When we could do nothing
to prevent our bondage to sin,
he came to set us free.
When we could not learn
how to make things right with you,
he went down the wilderness road
into the cold tomb of death,
so, as your raised him to new life,
he might proclaim to us,
“God has done it!”
As we seek to abide in Jesus,
as we long to bear fruit in the kingdom,we speak of the mystery known as faith:
Christ died, that we might live through him;
Christ was raised, that he might live through you;Christ will come, that all might live through eternity with you.
Abide in us at this Table,
as you pour out your Spirit
on the gifts of the bread and cup,
and on your children gathered in this place.
The broken bread reminds us
that you loved us first so that,
as we eat of it, we might put the needs
of the hungry, the searching,
the hurting, the lonely before our own.
The cup of grace nourishes us
so we can go over and join
the oppressed and the outcasts,
intertwining our branches with theirs,
so we all become part
of the Vine of justice and of hope.
Then, when we no longer sleep in death,
but are gathered around your Table
with our sisters and brothers of all time and places,
we will join in singing with one voice and heart,
“You have done it, God in Community, Holy in One. Amen.”
Sending
Go now, in the love of our God.
We will live for others through our God.
Go now, in the grace of Jesus.
We will forgive others, just as we have been forgiven.
Go now, in the community of the Spirit.
We will serve others in every need, in every place, in every heart.
© Thom M. Shuman
