Ruth, Chapter 2 17 August 2014 Worship at 10:30am www.riverofhopehutchinson.org
Share Music to Prepare Us for Worship Gathering Songs - He Has Made Me Glad and Hallelujah on pages 3-4. 2
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Welcome, Worship Orientation 101, You Are Here Clipboards No Longer Strangers Prayer God of the stranger, You are with us when we are empty and cannot see abundance or life in our future. Then you reveal yourself in a stranger who offers us life simply by being there and staying with us. Thank you for your persistence in seeking us. Amen. Meet Someone New You have an assignment! Find out what someone else is grateful for. Put it in the offering plate later as an offering to God. Greetings of grace through God, Jesus Christ, & the Holy Spirit 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. Confession and Forgiveness Let us confess that God is God and we are not. Silence is kept for reflection. Gracious God, We confess that we have sinned against you and against one another. We neglect to keep you at the center of our lives and turn our hearts to worship false idols. Too often we search for comfort in material things rather than in the promise of your love made flesh. We are quick to judge others, yet we fail to see our own faults. We ignore the cries of the poor, the children, and those on the margins. We grow weary of working for justice. Humble us. Forgive us. Save us. I have the best news to tell you. Fear not sisters and brothers. God, who is full of grace and abounding in steadfast love, meets us in our sin and transforms us for God s glory and the healing of God s world. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, your sins are forgiven. Be now at peace. And we say, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God! Amen! And now, a vocabulary lesson. Kyrie Eleison (keer-ee-ey e-ley-uh-sawn) is Greek for Lord, have mercy and pre-dates the earliest Christian worship. The prayer is simultaneously a petition and a prayer of thanksgiving; an acknowledgment of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will continue to do. 5
Psalm of Praise Psalm 117 Things in Naomi and Ruth s story begin to change we join in their hope and praise for God. Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For great is God s steadfast love toward us, 6
And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! Pastor Laura: What do you know to be true about God? Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol him, all you peoples! For great is God s steadfast love toward us, And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! Read Pastor Laura: Our story and God s story continues today in the second chapter of the book of Ruth. ***Sing For All the Faithful Women verse 1 before the reading*** Parts: Narrator (Pr. Laura) Naomi (Jeanette Krommenhoek) 7
Ruth (Ruth Hamlow) ALL Boaz (Jim Schaefer) Foreman Narrator: It so happened that Naomi had a relative by marriage, a man prominent and rich, connected with Elimelech's family. His name was Boaz. One day Ruth, the Moabite foreigner, said to Naomi, Ruth: "I'm going to work; I'm going out to glean among the sheaves, following after some harvester who will treat me kindly." Narrator: Naomi said, Naomi: "Go ahead, dear daughter." Narrator: And so she set out. She went and started gleaning in a field, following in the wake of the harvesters. Eventually she ended up in the part of the field owned by Boaz, her father-in-law Elimelech's relative. A little later Boaz came out from Bethlehem, greeting his harvesters, Boaz: "God be with you!" Narrator: They replied, ALL: "And God bless you!" Narrator: Boaz asked his young servant who was foreman over the farm hands, Boaz: "Who is this young woman? Where did she come from?" Narrator: The foreman said, Foreman: "Why, that's the Moabite girl, the one who came with Naomi from the country of Moab. She asked permission. 'Let me glean,' she said, 'and gather among the sheaves following after your harvesters.' She's been at it steady ever since, from early morning until now, without so much as a break." Narrator: Then Boaz spoke to Ruth: Boaz: "Listen, my daughter. From now on don't go to any other field to glean - stay right here in this one. And stay close to my young women. Watch where they are harvesting and follow them. And don't worry about a thing; I've given orders to my servants not to harass you. When you get thirsty, feel free to go and drink from the water buckets that the servants have filled." Narrator: She dropped to her knees, then bowed her face to the ground. Ruth: "How does this happen that you should pick me out and treat me so kindly - me, a foreigner?" Narrator: Boaz answered her, Boaz: "I've heard all about you - heard about the way you treated your mother-in-law after the death of her husband, and how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and have come to live among a bunch of total strangers. God reward you well for what you've done - and with a generous bonus besides from God, to whom you've come seeking protection under his wings." Ruth: "Oh sir, such grace, such kindness - I don't deserve it. You've touched my heart, treated me like one of your own. And I don't even belong here!" 8
Narrator: At the lunch break, Boaz said to her, Boaz: "Come over here; eat some bread. Dip it in the wine." Narrator: So she joined the harvesters. Boaz passed the roasted grain to her. She ate her fill and even had some left over. When she got up to go back to work, Boaz ordered his servants: Boaz: "Let her glean where there's still plenty of grain on the ground - make it easy for her. Better yet, pull some of the good stuff out and leave it for her to glean. Give her special treatment." Narrator: Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. When she threshed out what she had gathered, she ended up with nearly a full sack of barley! She gathered up her gleanings, went back to town, and showed her mother-in-law the results of her day's work; she also gave her the leftovers from her lunch. Naomi asked her, Naomi: "So where did you glean today? Whose field? God bless whoever it was who took such good care of you!" Ruth: "The man with whom I worked today? His name is Boaz." Naomi: "Why, God bless that man! God hasn't quite walked out on us after all! He still loves us, in bad times as well as good! That man, Ruth, is one of our circle of covenant redeemers, a close relative of ours!" Ruth: "Well, listen to this: He also told me, 'Stick with my workers until my harvesting is finished.'" Naomi: "That's wonderful, dear daughter! Do that! You'll be safe in the company of his young women; no danger now of being taken in some stranger's field." Narrator: So Ruth did it - she stuck close to Boaz's young women, gleaning in the fields daily until both the barley and wheat harvesting were finished. And she continued living with her mother-in-law. Narrator: Tune in next week for the continuing saga that is our story and God s story. All: Thanks be to God. ***Sing For All the Faithful Women verse 5 after the reading*** Children s Time 9
Sermon Full-Bodied Prayers for All People 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. Offering Song We Give Thee But Thine Own (vs.1). Setting the Table Thanksgiving for Offering Let us give thanks to God for all that God has given. We offer to you, God, what You have first given us: all that we are is a gift from You. Especially we thank you for the gifts of. We offer them back to you with gratitude and thanks. We love you. Amen 10
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. Amen. The Great Prayer of Thanksgiving 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 God thanks and praise. Words to bless the meal In the night in which he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks; broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, Take and eat, this is my body, given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me. Again, after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it for all to drink, saying: this cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sin. Do this for the remembrance of me. O God of resurrection and new life: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on these gifts of bread and wine. Bless this feast. Grace our table with your presence. 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. 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 will be forgiven. There will be enough. 11
Communion Songs/Hymns - Praise and Thanksgiving and We Are Called on page 13. 12
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Bless Blessing After the Meal May the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ strengthen you and keep you in God s peace. Amen. Why does our church exist? What is our purpose? We go out to transform lives through Jesus Christ. Spotlight on where we re going out to, then. Blessing to be Sent We go with God s blessing into a world that is often chaotic and not peaceful or welcoming of God. We go to bless others in God s name. May God bless you and keep you. May God s face shine upon you with grace and mercy. May God look upon you in favor and give you peace. Sending Song Lord Reign in Me on page 1-16. Go in peace serve the Lord! Thanks be to God Music to Send You Out 14
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