For Sunday August 7, 2016
Year C, Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost :: Green ::
Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 :: Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23 :: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 :: Luke 12:32-4
Adapted from Psalm 50
L: The mighty one, God the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
P: Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
L: Our God comes and does not keep silence
P: God calls to the heavens above and to the earth and judges the people:
L: “Gather to me my faithful ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
P: Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor God; those who go the right way will see salvation.
Invocation: (from Isaiah)
We come together O God, in the presence of your name. We come together seeking not only to please you, but to know you. Draw us in to your presence this day, and lead us with your heavenly counsel. As told in the prophets of old, remind us today of your call, not for sacrifices and blood, but for doing good, seeking justice, rescuing the oppressed, defense of the orphan and pleas for the widowed. We come O God, knowing that though our sins are like scarlet, you make them like snow through the gift of your son, Jesus the Christ.
Stewardship Moment: (From Luke)
Jesus said “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” . . . Smart guy . . . Let us now bring forth the tithes and offerings – indicators of our heart for God.
Offertory Prayer:
Gracious and Giving God, we bring before you these, our gifts, out of our love for you. You have offered us the very keys to your blessed realm, and only asked of us a little. We bring these offerings with the prayer that you will bless them to do your work, and lead us ever closer to your reign. Amen.
Communion Meditation: (From Hebrews)
By faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. By faith Abraham received power of procreation, even though he was too old–and Sarah herself was barren–because he considered him faithful who had promised.
By faith. By faith. By faith.
We come to this table by faith. In faith, this table continues the long line of God’s kept promises to those who come by faith.
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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