For Sunday, July 19, 2015
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost :: Green ::
2 Samuel 7:1-14a :: Psalm 89:20-37 :: Ephesians 2:11-22 :: Mark 6:30-34, 53-56
GENERAL ASSEMBLY SUNDAY (For Disciples of Christ Congregations)
Editor’s Note: We are in the midst of about 25 weeks of texts which are less connected by one theme than to each other week to week. The lectionary follows somewhat sequential readings in the Hebrew Scriptures and the Psalms which supplement them. The New Testament Readings are also sequential week to week, but do not necessarily fit a theme. Given this, I will be attempting to tie Call to Worship and Invocation to Hebrew Scriptures, Stewardship to Epistle, and Communion to Gospel with little concern for overarching theme.
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 89
L: The LORD has found and anointed us as servants;
P: May the hand of the LORD remain with us.
L: The LORD has found and anointed us as servants;
P: May the LORD’s faithfulness and steadfast love be with us.
L: The LORD has promised steadfast love;
P: May our covenant with the LORD stand firm.
L: The LORD has found and anointed us as servants;
P: And we shall cry out, you are God, the Rock of our Salvation!
Invocation:
Everlasting and eternal God, we come before you in this space, and call it “your house”. We know deep in our hearts though, that your home is with your people. We are aware you have called together our brothers and sisters in General Assembly, and we pray for your presence and guidance there with them. Help us in this time of worship to be more aware of your presence, not only here but throughout our lives. Guide and direct our paths, our reflections and the words of our mouths. You are our God: the one and only true God. Help us to be your people.
Stewardship Moment:
When Jesus and the Disciples landed at Gennesaret, people recognized him and started bringing the sick to him. Jesus healed all with whom he came in touch. We long for that power. In the face of cancer, AIDS, and sometimes even Chicken Pox or measles, we wish we could heal with a touch. The reality is we do have the gift of healing with a touch. We have been given the gift of loving community in being a church. We heal broken hearts, downtrodden spirits, loneliness and grief. We are able to do so because God has called us into Holy Community. When we bring our tithes and offerings, we support the ability to offer the healing ministry of touch and the means to come together. We will now receive the tithes and offerings which make ministries of healing touch possible.
Offertory Prayer:
O Lord of wholeness and hope, we come before you offering our gifts. We bring our tithes, we bring our offerings, we bring ourselves. Use them all to produce a ministry which heals hearts and souls in Christ’s name and by his grace. Amen.
Communion Meditation:
From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians comes this passage. It stands alone as a great communion meditation:
“11So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth . . . 12were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Paul goes on to remind us we are members of the household of God.
This is God’s family table, set and served by Jesus Christ himself. Come as a child of God, fully adopted into the household of God. Eat, Drink, and Remember whose child you are.
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