August 28, 2016

For Sunday August 28, 2016

Year C, Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost :: Green ::

Jeremiah 2:4-13 :: Psalm 81:1, 10-16 :: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 :: Luke 14:1, 7-14

Call to Worship (Responsive)    

Adapted from Psalm 81

L: Sing aloud to God our strength;
P: We shout for joy to the God of Jacob.

L: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
P: Who instructed Israel: “Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.”
L: But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.”
P: So God gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.

L: “O that my people would listen to me!”
P: And God would feed the people with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock.

 

Invocation: 

We seek you O God.  As the Israelites wandering in the desert, we seek to see your face and know your guidance and counsel.  As we come together in worship this day, guide our actions, shape our words, and direct our meditations.  Help us to know your divine presence and care.  Lead us not to stray away from your thoughts and ways, but guide us in truth.  Help us to leave this day inspired to do your will, and follow in the footsteps of Jesus the Christ. 

 

Stewardship Moment:

In the letter to the Hebrews, the author reminds us to “let mutual love continue”.   We are told to extend hospitality to strangers, remember those in prison,  keep marriage held in honor, and to stay away from the love of money.  Alone, it is a very hard list.  As a church, they are things we do every day.  As we seek to embody love, and let mutual love continue, we begin that process by giving out of a spirit of love.  We will now receive the tithes and offerings, which given together allow us to extend love in ways we could not alone. 

 

Offertory Prayer: 

Gracious and Giving God, we come before you with our tithes and offerings, joyfully returning them to you.  We come knowing that our ability to bring them is a sign that you have never left or forsaken us.  We bring them hoping to do good in sharing what we have; for we trust that these sacrifices are pleasing to you.  Bless the work of your church, which will extend love through these gifts.  

 

Communion Meditation:

Jesus teaches us how to behave at a banquet.  How to sit in the places of lowest honor, so the host can joyfully move you to a better place.  At this table, there is only one seat available: the place of highest honor.  At this table, the seat reserved for you is the one for whom Christ gave his life.  Come and receive the blessings of the table of the Lord.

 

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Scripture Quotations from the New Revised Standard Version. Online Scripture links a service of the Jean and Alexander Heard Divinity Library, of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

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