Year C, Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
All Saints Day :: Green :: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 :: Psalm 149 :: Ephesians 1:11-23 :: Luke 6:20-31
Twenty-Fourth Sunday After Pentecost :: Green :: Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 :: Psalm 119:137-144 :: 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12 :: Luke 19:1-10
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 149
L: Praise the LORD! Sing to the LORD a new song.
P: We rejoice in the LORD!
L: Praise the LORD with dancing, with the tambourine and the lyre.
P: Take pleasure in us, your people.
L: Let the faithful exult in glory.
P: Let the high praises of God be in our throats.
L: This is glory for all the faithful ones of the LORD:
P: Praise the LORD!
Invocation:
O God of all the Saints, clothed in glory and righteousness, we come together in your presence and marvel in your wisdom and power. As we seek to worship you, guide our hearts. Give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we seek to come to know you. Open the eyes of our hearts, and let us know the hope to which you call us forth. Put your power to work in us today, O God, that we may faithfully represent the love of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Stewardship Moment:
Near the beginning of the book of Isaiah, we encounter the voice of God saying “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean, remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” What a difficult list to fulfil! Right? Together, we do those things. Our gifts, our tithes, our offerings collectively do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed and defend the orphans and widows. Through our shared ministries, you do these things. Let us now receive the tithes and offerings which make caring ministries like these possible.
Offertory Prayer:
We bring our gifts, O God, acknowledging that we cannot fulfil all of your deepest desires for the best in humanity by ourselves. Take these collective gifts, O God, and help us to use them to fulfil your will. Guide our hands and our hearts as we seek to be your people. We offer it all in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Communion Meditation:
We come around the table of the Lord each time we gather. This time, as we recall the saints who have gone before, and surround us as a “great cloud of witnesses,” we give a special prayer of thanksgiving. Without those saints, we would not know the love and grace of this table. Without the saints who have gone before, our faith might be lost. So as we come to this table, let us do so with a spirit of thanksgiving in our hearts for all who brought us to this time of remembrance.
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