Sunday August 13, 2017
Year A, Tenth Sunday After Pentecost
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost :: Green ::
1 Kings 19:9-18 :: Psalm 85:8-13 :: Romans 10:5-15 :: Matthew 14:22-33
Call to Worship (Responsive)
Adapted from Psalm 85
L: We have come to hear what God the LORD will speak,
P: For God will speak peace to the people.
L: Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
P: Righteousness and peace will come together.
L: Faithfulness shall spring up;
P: And righteousness will come down from heaven.
Invocation:
O God of Righteousness and Peace, we have come together to worship you, to sing our praises, and offer our prayers. Make us ever aware of your presence, guide us into your peace. Help us to focus our hearts and minds on you, that we may hear a word of hope.
Stewardship Moment:
Romans 10:15 reminds us “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!” in response to the questions “How are they to call, believe, and proclaim one they do not know.” As members of the Christian Church, we are part of a missionary effort on which the sun never sets. Through your gifts, missionaries and their beautiful feet are walking to those who have never heard the gospel. And on all of our behalf, they are telling the story of Jesus and His love. THANK YOU for all that you have done. Because of missionary efforts in the past, there are more Disciples in the Congo, than the US and Canada. Today’s gift might bring the same growth in China, or Thailand, or Bosnia, or Honduras, or even here.
We now gratefully receive the tithes and offerings which make these missionary ministries possible.
Offertory Prayer:
We give you thanks and praise, O God, for these gifts which we have received and all who have given them. May you bless and multiply them, that the Good News can truly be carried to all, and all may come to know and believe. Amen.
Communion Meditation:
In the Gospel of Matthew we are told the story of Peter walking on water, how he became afraid of the wind and the waves and experienced a sinking feeling. Yet when he called out to Jesus, the Gospel says Jesus IMMEDIATELY reached out his hand and caught him.
This is not a table of fear. Jesus has removed all fear, and made this a table of hope. For we know when we approach this table we are already calling out to Christ our Lord, and remembering that Jesus loves us enough, no matter why or how badly we are sinking, to reach out and catch us. Come, let us join together joyfully in this feast of remembrance, forgiveness, and hope.
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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. Check out all of the awesome resources there at http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu