May 30, 2021

May 30, 2021

Worship Resources for 
the Center for Faith and Giving

Pentecost +1

Isaiah 6:1-8

Psalm 29

 Romans 8:12-17

 John 3:1-17

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Call to Worship  (adapted from Psalm 29 in The Message)
One:  Gather in!  We’ve come to praise God!
Many:  Bravo, God, Bravo!
One:  Listen!  God thunders across the waters,
Many: God’s thunder tympanic!  God’s thunder symphonic!
One:  So lift your voices to give God glory!
Many:  Together we rejoice, calling out “GLORY to God!”

Opening Prayer  

Amazing God,
We’ve come today to praise you, 
                           to honor you,
                           to give you glory!
Free us from distractions which seek to pull our attention away from you.  
Help us focus our minds, hearts and energy on you alone.

Thank you for bringing us to this time and filling us with your Spirit.
Allow this hour to nourish us, preparing us for all that lies ahead, 
   that we might not falter under the challenges we face
but continue to witness to your grace and power in every moment.  AMEN

Moment for Stewardship  (in response to Romans 8:16-17)

Families are created in a variety of ways; some by birth, some by adoption.
Paul teaches in the book of Romans “if we are led by the Spirit of God, we are adopted as children of God.”

Gathered into God’s family, we become heirs.  God, who created all things, claims you, and me, as beloved inheritors!  What more wonderful opportunity could we have than to share our inheritance with other beloved children who live in need of resources which we have?

(Lift up one particular way your congregation shares:  food bank?  Clothing store?  Homeless shelter?  Tutoring program? Support of a nesting congregation?  Hosting AA or NA?)

Let’s take this opportunity to bear witness through our offering that we are children of God, able to respond with generosity as we help build up the family.


Prayer of Thanksgiving

Mighty God, you have claimed us as your own beloved daughters and sons.  
Thank you for naming us, making us joint heirs of all you have made.  Please now receive these gifts which we’ve offered to build up the church of Jesus and strengthen this community of love.  Use these financial gifts and use each of us to continue creating your Realm of Love on earth.  AMEN

Invitation to Communion  

If you’ve ever stepped into a plantation in the “Old South” of the United States, you may have seen the radical distinction between the lives of the Master and those of the slaves.  While many of us shudder at the thought, we recognize (as Wikipedia suggests) “Life on the fields often meant working sunup to sundown six days a week having food sometimes not suitable for an animal to eat. Plantation slaves lived in small shacks with a dirt floor and little or no furniture. Life on large plantations with a cruel overseer was oftentimes the worst.”

Paul, in Romans, reminds us we have not received a spirit of slavery and fear, but a spirit of adoption into God’s family.

Here at this table, we celebrate our identity in the gifts provided for everyone who gathers.  No distinction between us.  We’re each, and all, invited to share these emblems of bread and juice.

So come!  Claim your place.  Know you’re welcome.  Rejoice in this meal, and in our identity as joint heirs with Jesus, empowered by the Spirit!