September 18, Worship on Sundays at 10:30

Transcription

1 September 18, Worship on Sundays at 10:30

2 Gathering Music to Prepare Us for Worship Sign Bibles! Gathering Songs Be Unto Your Name & Better is One Day 2

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5 Welcome, Worship Orientation 101, Connection Cards No Longer Strangers Prayer God of promises, you promise to always love us and you remain faithful to us no matter what. Send us toward each other, strangers, friends, and enemies alike, reminding us that you have promised to love them, too. Amen. Meet Someone New We practice being Christians by extending our hand in friendship to people we may not know very well or at all. If we can t practice it here in worship, where else can we do it? Go ahead, make the first move. Hi, my name is. You re new to me. OR Can I introduce myself to you? are good ways to start. We simply cannot be afraid of one another. Reprise of Better is One Day to gather everyone back together. Confession Let us confess that God is God and we are not. Silence for reflection and self-examination. Dear faithful God, (left) We have not loved you with all of our hearts. (right) We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. ALL: We have not responded to your promise (left) We have put up walls to keep people at a distance. (right) We have failed to respond when someone is hurting. ALL: We have not responded to your promise. (left) We abuse the gifts of your creation. (right) We destroy your beauty out of ignorance and greed. ALL: We have not responded to your promise. (left) We fail to respond to your call to do justice. (right) We seek only comfort for ourselves. ALL: We have not responded to your promise. Silence Kyrie Eleison a lesson in pronunciation 5

6 Song of Mercy Kyrie Eleison 6

7 Promise of Forgiveness Forgiving God, We are broken but God s promises are not. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our sins are forgiven. Alleluia! Thanks be to God! Amen! God s promise calls us together for a reason. Song of Reason We Are Called 7

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9 Greeting The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the community of the Holy Spirit is with you all. And also with you. Prayer of the Day Let us pray, A brief silence is kept before the prayer. God of the promise, As you promised Abraham and Sarah descendants as numerous as the stars, you have also promised us that we might live under those stars as your people, faithful and loved. Show us how to live as your people, and how to nurture all your children with whom we share the same canopy of sky night after night. Amen. To the Narrator: please tell the congregation what their parts are before announcing the reading. Also, go over any pronunciations they might have that could be difficult. Pronunciation guide: Eliezer: el'ee-ee-zuhr Damascus: duh-mas-kuhs The Word Narrator: Our story and God s story continues today in the reading is from chapter 15 of the book of Genesis, verses 1-6. ALL: Glory to you, O Lord. Narrator: After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, Lord (side 1): Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great. Narrator: But Abram said, Abram (side 2): O Lord God, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Narrator: And Abram said, Abram (side 2): You have given me no offspring, and so a slave born in my house is to be my heir. Narrator: But the word of the Lord came to him, Lord (side 1): This man shall not be your heir; no one but your very own issue shall be your heir. Narrator: He brought him outside and said, Lord (side 1): Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. Narrator: Then he said to him, Lord (side 1): So shall your descendants be. Narrator: And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness. Narrator: Stay tuned for the continuing drama that is our story and God s story. ALL: Praise to you O Christ. Children s Sermon Sermon 9

10 Song of Praise To Be Alive 10

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12 Statement of Faith Let us confess our faith in the God of promise: We believe God is our creator and has promised to love us always. We believe Jesus Christ, fully God, fully human, experienced all the pain and joy and challenges of human life. God s forgiving love was revealed to us when Jesus suffered death on the cross. He came back to new life and has promised us new life in unity with God. We believe the Holy Spirit is God s promise touching our spirits, guiding us even through the darkest and most difficult moment of our lives. We believe God is among us in community. Mysterious, yet very real, God promises to be with us always, even to the end of the age. Prayers of the People Write, draw, or color your prayers on the STAR SHAPE given to you today. When you have finished, please place it on the wall in a plastic sheet protector already hung for you. 2 people from the congregation will pray aloud the prayers, anonymously, and we ll sing The Spirit Intercedes For Us as a prayer response. Sign Bibles! Offering All that we have and all that we are comes from God. Let us give back to God in a spirit of generosity. There will be enough. Please put your offering of gratitude to God in the plate as it passes by. Prayerfully consider giving a consistent financial gift to River of Hope so our community cannot just survive but thrive. The watering can is for gifts to House of Grace, a mission congregation in Montrose, Minnesota. Laundry Love: Take a container to collect quarters to support the ministry of Laundry Love. Offering Song Everybody s Got Something To Offer 12

13 The Feast Setting the Table As the kids help set the table, they make a circle around the table and lead the congregation in the table prayer written by Martin Luther: Let s pray: Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest. And let these gifts to us be blest. Blest be God who is our bread, may all the world be clothed and fed. Amen. Let us pray, in response to your promise of faithfulness and life, we offer our lives. In response to your promise of love, we offer our love. In response to all of your promises, we offer our gifts. Amen. Thanksgiving at the Table The Lord is 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 the night when Jesus was betrayed by his best friends, he took bread. He blessed it and broke it and gave it to these same friends saying, Take and eat. This is my body given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. After supper he took the cup, blessed it and gave it for all to drink saying, This is the new covenant, the new promise, for the forgiveness of sins. Do this for the remembrance of me. O God of resurrection and new life: 13

14 Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Bless this feast. Grace our table with your presence. Come, Holy Spirit. Amen. The Lord s Prayer You are invited to join hands with those around you in prayer. If you are not the hand-holding type, then simply fold your hands in front of you or hang onto this bulletin as you pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen Invitation to the Meal You are welcome to this meal. If you hunger and thirst for grace and mercy that comes through Jesus Christ, then Christ has set this table just for you. Bring all that you are and all that you have to the table. You will be fed. You are forgiven. There is enough. Sign Bibles! Communion Songs Great is They Faithfulness & My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less 14

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17 Prayer After Communion Let us pray. God of promise, you keep your promise and you feed us so that we may live and give life to the world. Send us out ready to tell others of this great free gift of unending love. Amen. The Sending Why does our church exist? What is our purpose? We go out to transform lives through Jesus Christ. MILESTONES "It's time for milestones-a time of sharing milestones in our community. Big, small, good, bad. Come on up if you have one to share. After each person shares their milestone, the congregation responds by saying MILESTONE! Standing On The Promises will be sung at the beginning and end of the sharing. 17

18 Blessing of the Bibles We have been given a great gift of scripture which tells the story of God s work in the world to love and save us. So the Bible is our story and God s story, all mixed up together. Through the work of prophets and sages, poets and apostles, God inspired this word to be written down by human hands intended for human hearts just like ours. It is a book not for us to worship but a book for us to turn to for comfort and guidance, for agitation and question, for study and for life. Jesus turned to scripture in his lifetime. As Luke tells us in his Gospel: When [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it is written: ALL: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord s favor. And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ALL: Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. (Luke 4:16-22, NRSV) Today we bring an offering to God. We ask God to bless these Bibles and our lives of faith, for one does not exist without the other. We will turn to it regularly in worship and hear from its pages the stories of God s mysterious acts and faithful love for us and for all of creation. We also bring the Bibles entrusted to us in our homes and our families and wherever we carry them in our daily lives. We ask God to bless these books and our prayerful reading and study of them. Let us lift these Bibles before God and pray together, responding, Your mercy is great. Bless these Bibles that you have given us. May they be instruments for your Word to guide our daily lives, inspire our service, enliven our praise, and strengthen our trust in you. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great. When we are tempted to twist your words to satisfy our own desires, recall us to obedience to your will, as revealed in these Scriptures and lived by your holy Church. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great. Draw us daily to listen and to live by your Word, that you may mold us for service the way a potter shapes clay into vessels. Then use us to bring you glory in all things. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great. We bless you, O God, for the gift of your Scriptures, and praise you for generously blessing us through the spoken and written word and also the Word made flesh in Jesus Christ. Amen. Sending Song Let s Go Out KIDS come play a rhythm instrument! 18

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20 Go in peace serve the Lord. Thanks be to God. Music to Send You Out From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2005 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS CCLI License # OneLicense.net license # A