Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Pentecost +6
Call to Worship (inspired by Ps. 130)
One: In our hurry-up world, this morning, we’re invited to WAIT
Many: Wait? Yes! Wait for the Lord!
One: So, as we begin, I invite you to put your feet flat on the floor,
open your hands in your lap, like you’re waiting for a gift,
close your eyes, if you’d like,
an draw in one big breath…and release,
a second breath…and release,
a third…and release
Many: Now, we’re ready to follow the Psalmist, and hope in the Lord!
One: Hope in the Lord, for there is steadfast love, and power to redeem.
Many: It’s the Lord who can restore us from our wild or weary lives:
it’s our God who is REDEEMER.
Opening Prayer
Holy God, we’re here, waiting…confident in your power to bring us into new life. We get so tangled up in the worries of our days, in the challenges of the world, in the news which sometimes seems so frightening. Hold us close in this hour, like a beloved friend who comes to allay our anxieties.
Thank you for your steadfast love which surrounds us in every moment.
Build us up through your Spirit and through this community of faith,
so we might leave worship eager to share our assurance with others, and filled with gratitude for you. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship (inspired by Mark 5)
Mark’s Gospel speeds along, crunching stories and time together with “immediately” describing many situations. The story of the woman, yearning for healing from her 12 year bleeding ailment, shows the nearly hopeless woman “immediately” healed. Jesus, also “immediately” felt power go out.
Twelve YEARS, and a touch which “immediately” gave back her health and her ability to re-connect with her community! What a gift.
Her grateful reaction was to kneel before Jesus and declare what she’d experienced. What a gift for Jesus, the disciples, and the crowd!
Friends, what gift are you able to give as we come to our time of offering? Your gifts of time, of talent, and of treasure are gifts which “immediately” help give the gift of life to this congregation and the ministries we share.
Let’s present our gifts, eager for them to be translated into health, community, and deep gratitude.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Giving God, you continue to provide us with the amazing gift of life. Today, please accept our gifts in this offering. Help us use them to enhance life, not only for this congregation, but for those whose lives we can touch, helping share enough food, enough safety, enough opportunity to live in the abundance you’ve designed for each and for all. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
Do you ever find yourself caught in a “grab and go” line, or annoyed because the drive-thru’ at your favorite fast food is slow? Are you regularly snarfing down a granola bar as you move on to your next activity? Or do your meals at home consist of a pb & j eaten over the kitchen sink so you don’t have to take time to use and then wash a plate?
Sometimes that’s the way communion feels to me: like we’re simply inhaling a tiny crumb of cracker and a sip of juice so we can get on to the next important part of our day.
So, today, remembering how we began our service, let’s pause once more.
We have time, and we’re coming to share a simple meal.
Simple, yet profound.
It’s a covenant meal (take a moment to describe “covenant”).
You are invited to share in these gifts of bread and cup, remembering and giving thanks for Jesus.