Year C, Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost :: Green :: Jeremiah 1:4-10 :: Psalm 71:1-6 :: Hebrews 12:18-29 :: Luke 13:10-17
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 71
L: In you, O LORD, we take refuge; let us never be put to shame.
P: In your righteousness deliver rescue us.
L: Be to us a rock of refuge to save us, for you are our rock and our fortress
P: Rescue us, O God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
L: For you, O LORD, are our hope.
P: Upon you, O LORD I have leaned from my birth; it was you who took me from my mother’s womb. Together let our praise be continually of you.
Invocation:
We come to this place, O God, to lift our collective voices before you, to hear a word from you, and to gather around your holy family table. As we assemble today, we ask your blessing on our time of worship. Command a holy word from you to come from those who speak and lead. Guide and deliver us. Help us to know your presence, and your loving hand guiding all we do and say. We offer this prayer and all of our worship in the name of your son, Jesus the Christ.
Stewardship Moment:
The Author of Hebrews weaves the image of two mountains: one of fear and one of joy. The author compels us to recognize that God has claimed for us and all who respond to the Gospel the mountain of joy: a place which “cannot be shaken.” A couple of verses before this assurance, Hebrews 12:15 says “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God.” THAT is a tall order! No one falls short? Really? No one? — It seems to me we have a LOT of work to do. That is one of the reason I bring my tithes and offerings to the church. Because there is a LOT of work to do, and we do more together than apart. We will now receive the tithes and offerings which will help to see that no one falls short of the grace of God.
Offertory Prayer:
O God of all, who was and is and is to come, we come today bearing our gifts. We recognize that they are a mere portion of all that you have given to us, and we are thankful. Use these gifts, O God, to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. Help us to share the Gospel, and the grace which only you can give.
Communion Meditation:
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus heals a woman during church. At this table, Jesus heals all who will come and lay their sin and brokenness before him. As we come today to eat of this bread and drink of this cup, let it be a sign of healing for each of us.
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