Gathering Music: Go Tell It On the Mountain, Where I am there you may also be, We are one in the spirit

Transcription

1 Creating Home for Another: Leviticus 19:33-34; Romans 15:7-9a CLOSING WORSHIP WITH COMMUNION: Liturgy Gathering Music: Go Tell It On the Mountain, Where I am there you may also be, We are one in the spirit Announcements & 2019 theme promo Processional: Let Us Break Bread Call to Worship: (from Many Voice: adapted from Franciscan Blessing Contributed by Rev. Cedric A. Harmon ) ONE: Come, all who are blessed with restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships. ALL: We come to seek boldly and love deeply. ONE: Come, all who are blessed with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and the exploitation of people. ALL: We come to seek justice, freedom, and peace among all people. ONE: Come, all who are blessed with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain of rejection, starvation, or the loss of all they cherish. ALL: We come to reach out our hands to comfort them and to transform their pain into joy. ONE: Come, all who are blessed with audacity to believe that you really can make a difference in this world. ALL : We come seeking God s grace and inspiration to do what others claim cannot be done. ONE: Come, all who seek to be a blessing in service to God and humanity. Music: Joyful, Joyful Call to Confession: There are times when we limit our homes to what we know, what we have, what we own. We consider our home as a place of safety, where we are not challenged or questioned. Let us remember that home may not necessarily be a place, but an attitude of welcome and inclusion. Let us open our hearts and our minds to consider the opportunities we have missed to create home for another by joining together in the prayer of confession. Take seconds of silence before prompting folks to join by saying Let us pray Prayer of Confession: O God forgive us for our silence. Forgive us the opportunities we have missed to share your love, your peace, your grace, your boundless hospitality with everyone we meet. Forgive us as we confess aloud or in the silence of our hearts Forgive us O Lord: For the sin of silence... For the sin of indifference...

2 For the secret complicity of the neutral... For the closing of borders... For the washing of hands... For the waste of opportunity... For the presence of apathy... For the clinging to self preservation... Forgive us O God. Let there be no forgetfulness before the Throne of Glory, and let memory startle us on sunny mornings, in sudden silences when we are with friends, when we lie down and when we rise up. Forgive us, unite us and empower us to meet oppression and injustice with hospitality and welcome. Forgive us unite us and empower us to offer your hospitality with every word, every action and every breath we take until all creation sings for joy in response to the abundance of the home you have made for us. May this be so, amen. (inspired by a Prayer for the Remembrance of Jewish Suffering: Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book by the Central Conference of American Rabbis) Assurance of Forgiveness: Family of God, hear the good news: there is nothing- no thing- in heaven or on earth- no thing in the past, in the present or the future- no thing that we could do or leave undone- no thing that could ever separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. We are united together as brothers, sisters and siblings, bound together in love: blessed, forgiven and free. Prayer for Illumination: Lord, we pray: Bless us with unhardened hearts. Equip us with unending grace. Empower us with unconditional love. With these divine gifts in hand, may we take your Word now, and with the guidance of your Spirit, apply it to our lives. Scripture: Leviticus 19:33-34; Romans 15:7-9a Sermon: Storytellers: 1. Bill Buchanan (2 pictures) 2. Ashley from Homeward Bound 3. Rachel Mastin Music: We will Feast in the House of Zion into This Little Light of Mine Invitation to the Table Beloved, we are home at this table. When we say that all are welcome here, we don t say it because the church has decided to let everyone come--we say it because this table belongs to God, who would never, ever turn anyone away. In the spirit of that welcome... [insert details about gluten free bread] Communion Liturgy by Slats Toole

3 Great Prayer of 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. In a time when sometimes all we can see is what is wrong, we come to be reminded that it is right to offer our thanks and praise to you, God of all creation. With your voice, you crafted this world: energized with light, sheltered by darkness, filled with mountains and oceans and deserts and forests. In your own creative, infinite image you formed us, and breathed your life into us, saying, Beloved, you are home. And you have never stopped calling us home. When we pack our bags to run away, When we feel the sting of rejection or the weight of grief, When all we can do is lash out in anger, When we cannot see your image in every person we meet When we cannot see your image in ourselves you are there, reaching out your hand to us, in the persistent hope that we will reach back. You sent prophets to guide our steps, to remind us of your commandments and your promises, and when that was not enough, you came here, to make your home with us. Therefore we shout your praises, singing with all those who have created home for us, with all the faithful of every age and all the ages, and even with the angels, saying, 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!

4 How incredible, O God, how astounding it is that you came to us in the form of Jesus Christ, to live with us, laugh with us, cry with us, pray with us, and show us what it means to open doors, to cross borders to break binaries to tear down dividing walls. Even then, we rejected you, but you did not reject us. In the death of Jesus Christ, you said to us: You can do your worst: I will never stop loving you, and in my love is life. In Christ s resurrection and ascension we know this life, and hold to the promise that you are coming again, to make all things new. We cherish this mystery of faith: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again. Eternal God, We gather here to remember all you have done, to celebrate all you are working to do through us, and to experience you once again through bread and cup. Let your Spirit infuse these gifts, that this very bread that we break and this very cup that we bless, will help us know you and serve you better. Through this meal, bind us together, so that we are no longer citizens and foreigners, but instead truly form the body of Christ, in a world in desperate need of you. Even as you bring us home to this table, nourish us so we can go out from these mountains to create home for all who need to know welcome, justice, forgiveness, connection, and peace. Amen. And now, let us join together in the prayer that Jesus Christ taught us--one prayer, said in the version or language that is closest to our hearts THE LORD S PRAYER. WORDS OF INSTITUTION - as the presider prefers

5 PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Holy One, you are the source of all that is good. You have called us home to feast at your table, and we thank you and praise you for this meal that has fed us, this time apart that has nourished us, and this reminder of your presence in our lives that has strengthened us. As we rise from this table, help us to carry this sense of home with us, so that even facing rejection, even in the wilderness, we might know that in you we will always find a home. Amen. Litany of Sending: Lord, you have called us to this place and joined us together in love. To learn to be better disciples, better brothers and sisters and siblings in Christ. To grow together in our faith, in our love for one another Help us to be a community that fosters diversity and is radically inclusive. To be a church that fights for justice and peace for all people. To be a home to the alien, the foreigner, the immigrant, the stranger, the neighbor, orphan, the widow, the friend, the foe, the family. Guide us as we strive to be a body that is not satisfied with injustice or oppression. Empower us to share your radical, abundant welcome with all creation. Grant us the strength to carry your blessing from this place to the next. To walk down this mountain, following in the footsteps of our maker. Shine your light upon us that we can see the glory of your Beloved Community, and work for the limitless inclusion of all creation. Go in the peace of Christ to love and serve the Lord Thanks be to God Benediction Benediction Song: Numbers Benediction Go in peace and create home for all creation wherever you go!!!