For Sunday June 26, 2016
Year C, Sixth Sunday After Pentecost
Sixth Sunday After Pentecost :: Green ::
I Kings 19:15-21 :: Psalm 16 :: Galatians 5:13-25 :: Luke 9:51-62
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 16
L: Protect us, O God,
P: For in you we take refuge.
L: The LORD is our chosen portion;
P: Because of this we have a goodly heritage.
L: Let us bless the LORD, who gives us counsel;
P: We will keep the LORD always before us, We shall not be moved.
L: Therefore our hearts are glad, and our souls rejoice;
P: For in your presence there is fullness of joy.
Invocation:
We confess O God that we are a busy people, always coming and going and tarrying about at tasks of the world. We do not always feel your mantle, nor do we hear or heed your call upon us. Yet we have come together, O God, to worship you, and you alone. Bless this time of worship and guide our hearts and souls. Touch each one with the blessing of your spirit. Guide us in your truth. Help us to live as ones guided by you through your Holy Spirit, and lead us in following your Son, the Messiah, the Blessed and Holy One.
Stewardship Moment:
The Apostle Paul tells the Galatians “do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” One of the ways we love our neighbor is through our tithes and offerings. Let us now give in such a way that love is truly shown.
Offertory Prayer:
O God who is love, gives love, and calls us to love one another; we bring before you these, our tithes and offerings, as signs of our love for you. Take these gifts and use them, multiply them, and bless them that our neighbors may know our love for you and for them. We offer these gifts in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.
Communion Meditation:
In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, right after Jesus rebukes James and John for offering to destroy a Samaritan village that did not receive Jesus, Luke 9:56 simply reads: “Then they went on to another village. In the footnotes it says: “Other ancient authorities read ‘for the Son of Man has not come to destroy the lives of human beings but to save them.’” Isn’t that the essence of this table? We come to this table to remember the saving acts of Jesus. We come because we know the sacrifice made for us and are thankful. Come to the table and remember how much God loves you.
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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