Texts: Genesis 22:1-14; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42
Call to Worship
With joy and celebration, God welcomes us to this place.
How good it is to gather in God's house!
With joy and celebration, we welcome one another.
We greet each other by name; we are equal in God's Kingdom.
We open our hearts, to welcome God's love;
we open our arms, to welcome God's people.
Here, every single one of God's children is welcome.
Prayer of the Day
You have invited us to this place,
Accepting God,
for this is where you want us.
Here, we learn to trust you,
and to faithfully follow where you lead us.
Here, we learn to listen to you,
and hear the words of life,
of hope, of healing.
Here, we learn to bring everything to you -
even our pain, especially our brokenness -
that we might be made whole.
Pilgrim Jesus:
you are with us in this place,
and in every place
where we live, work, play, pray.
And, if we dare to trust
this good news,
we discover that grace
which sets us free:
to treat one another
as siblings;
to use that grace
to break down every barrier;
to live that grace
in every moment of our lives.
We would receive you
into our hearts, Abiding Spirit,
knowing that you have brought us together,
for by the gift of your presence,
we are no longer strangers
but friends and neighbors
in your Kingdom.
God in Community, Holy in One,
hear us as we pray as Jesus taught us, saying,
(The Lord's Prayer)
Call to Reconciliation
Created to live with one another and our God, we know the truth about our shattered lives and relationships. Yet, out of this brokenness, God shapes new people, giving every one of us a new start. Let us confess those things which separate us from one another, that we might be
made one in Christ.
Unison Prayer for Confession
In your house, there is room for all; at your Table, we find a place set for us. But we admit, Inviting God, that we find it difficult to be as accepting as you and we find it easy to shoulder others away from your feast. You fling wide the doors to your kingdom, Welcoming God, but we are quick to try to shut them to those who are different from us. Your heart is open so that all might experience your grace, and we reluctantly remember our ungracious words and deeds.
Forgive us, God of every person: heal our broken lives; mend our fragmented souls. Open our hearts to your vision of the Kingdom where all are welcome, all are affirmed, all are beloved - even as we receive these gifts from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
Silence is kept
Assurance of Pardon
Can it be any clearer? God has created us to be a family - sisters, brothers, neighbors, friends. No longer strangers, we are all welcome in the kingdom of love, grace, and hope.
In Christ, we are one. There are no barriers, no differences, no divisions. We are a new people, forgiven and made whole. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer of Dedication/Offering
May the gifts that we offer break the bonds of injustice, put out the fires of prejudice, and embrace the lonely and forgotten, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
The Lord who provides be with you!
And also with you!
Lift your hearts to the One who frees us from sin.
We rejoice in God, who delivers us from death's power.
Offer songs of joy and wonder to the One
who welcomes you to this Table.
We will sing to God, whose bounty fills our lives,
our hearts, our souls.
With great joy and thanksgiving,
we lift our songs of praise to you,
God of all life.
You did not withhold
your treasures from us,
but poured them out
in overflowing abundance for us:
sparkling streams, rolling clear and clean;
carpets of grass,
through which the wind tiptoes;
crystal blue skies freckled
with bright, billowing clouds.
All was created and called good by you,
and offered as gifts for us.
But when we could have danced
through Eden, free and joyous,
we chose to let sin bind us,
placing us on death's altars.
When we refused to answer you
when you called in the night,
when we turned deaf ears
to the prophets you sent to us,
you did not withhold your only son,
the Child you loved most of all,
but sent Jesus to come to us,
providing a way home to your heart.
So, we lift our voices, filled with joy,
joining them with the glad songs
of every place and generation,
all creation praising your name:
Holy, holy, holy are you, God who does not forget us.
All creation trusts in your steadfast love.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is the One who gives a cup of living water to the thirsty.
Hosanna in the highest!
Holy are you, God of constant love,
and blessed is Jesus Christ, our Savior,
and the love of your heart.
When we thought you had forgotten us,
he came to remind us
of your eternal promises;
when we would lay in
the cradling arms of pain,
he came to make us whole;
when we prepared to sleep
in death's comforting bed,
he came to shine the light
of your love upon us,
and to welcome us home
into your kingdom of eternal life.
As we remember his hospitality to all,
as we would not forget his dying for us,
as we would celebrate his resurrection,
we would tell of that mystery we call faith:
Christ died, welcoming death on our behalf;
Christ rose, welcoming the gift of resurrection on our behalf;
Christ will return, on our behalf, so we might not lose our reward.
You send your Spirit
to rest upon the gifts
of the bread and the cup,
and to welcome all your children
to the feast of the Lamb of Life.
As we eat of that Bread
which makes us whole,
we would make room
for all of your children,
welcoming all who have been
rejected by the world.
As we drink deeply from
that Cup which gives us life,
we would leave this place
to go and be with all
who are bound by fear and failure,
by hunger and hopelessness,
by hate and persecution,
not withholding our
most precious possession,
but sharing our lives with them.
And when all time has ended,
when we are gathered as your family
at the table which you have prepared for us,
we will feast on the grace you provide,
praising you forever and ever,
God in Community, Holy in One. Amen.
Sending
May we go out into our world with God.
Where we may work to set free
all bound by worry and loneliness.
May we go out into our communities with Jesus.
Where we will gather up those sacrificed
on the altars of success, hate, and greed.
May we go out into our neighborhoods with the Spirit.
Where we will offer ourselves as lambs
of peace, of gentleness, of justice.
(c) Thom M. Shuman
