For Sunday June 18, 2017
Year A, Second Sunday After Pentecost
Second Sunday after Pentecost :: Green ::
Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7) :: Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 :: Romans 5:1-8 :: Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)
Editor’s Note: Today is Father’s Day. We have chosen not to included references to it in these resources knowing that most will honor the day in either the Pastoral Prayer, possibly the Sermon, or in some other part of the worship service. The lectionary does not mention Father’s Day, so we, likewise, have chosen not to as well.
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 116
L: I love the LORD, because God has heard my voice and my supplications.
P: Therefore I will call on God as long as I live.
L: What shall I return to the LORD for all of God’s bounty to me?
P: I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD,
L: I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of the people.
P: I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice.
L: I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of the people.
P: in the courts of the house of the LORD, Praise the LORD!
Invocation:
Wonderful and Everlasting God, who provides us unimaginable blessing, as you did for Abraham and Sarah by the Oaks; we come again into your sanctuary. We come seeking your blessing. We come offering our praise and the hospitality which you call forth from us. We come because you have called us together to be your people. Guide and receive our worship in the name of your most excellent gift; Jesus, the Christ
Stewardship Moment:
The story of Jesus sending the disciples out to serve in the Ninth and Tenth Chapters of Matthew’s Gospel has a hidden teaching. It teaches us to trust in the abundance of God and God’s blessing. When Jesus tells the disciples to take nothing, he is teaching them to trust God. He is teaching them to trust that churches and synagogues and houses of faith will honor those who bring the good news of Jesus, and will take care of them. We receive an offering to continue that spirit of hospitality, generosity, and trust in God. When we give sacrificially, we are exhibiting that same trust; that God will provide from God’s abundance. We will now receive the tithes and offerings which make our ministries of hospitality and generosity possible.
Offertory Prayer:
We bring before you O God our gifts, and offer them as a sign of our understanding of your generosity and abundance. We recognize that you have first given these to us, and what we return is but your own. Use these gifts, O God, that others may come to know the generosity and abundance of your grace and love.
Communion Meditation:
Romans 5:1 and 2 read: Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
This is a table of hope. A table of Forgiveness. A table of love. We come to the table knowing we have obtained grace, and hoping we can share that grace with others. If today is your first or ten thousand and first visit to the table, come. Come and receive the hope and glory of God.
All material copyright 2017 The Jubilee Fund, Inc., and appears on this site via a partnership with the Center for Faith and Giving. Permission granted to reproduce and use any of the above for Churches and Congregations to the glory of God without requirement of compensation or notification.
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. Check out all of the awesome resources there at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu