Worship resources for the Center for Faith and Giving
The Center for Faith and Giving will undergo a change in leadership this month as Bruce Barkhauer retires after over 14 years of leading the work of generosity for the Disciples of Christ. You can learn more about our new director, Melissa St Clair here. If you are interested in making a gift to the Fund for Generosity in honor of Bruce’s ministry, you can learn about it here.
As always, you can support the work of this ministry by following this link: donate
Pentecost +12
Ephesians 4:25 – 5:2
John 6:35, 41-51
Call to Worship (inspired by Psalm 130)One: Welcome to this time of waiting for the Lord.
Many: What? We’re not here just so it around and wait.
One: No! This is our time to ACTIVELY wait, like waiters in a full restaurant.
Many: OK, we’ll watch and pray, sing and share, because
God’s steadfast love’s showing up in this very room!
One: God’s power pours out to vindicate us,
putting us back into right relationship with God and with each other.
Many: Together we can actively wait,
more eager than those who watch for morning to break.
All: Together now we focus our minds and hearts
to offer our praise and celebrate the Lord our God.
Opening Prayer
Lord God, we stand before you this morning,
eager to be engaged with you and with one another as we worship.
May the words of our mouths, and the thoughts in our minds center on you.
May our actions always demonstrate the love you pour out into us.
Inspire us to share that love with all we encounter this day. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship
Tell a story of how you learned to bring your offering to church,
or use this story:
I remember hearing how a friend of mine learned to be a regular, proportionate giver at church.
From the time she was five years old, her parents would give her a weekly allowance, which they provided every Saturday evening.
Each week, she and her siblings would sit down at the kitchen table.
Their parents would give each of them some coins.
The family would talk about the need for careful handling of this money.
In those early years, each child received 5 dimes, and this counsel:
Pay attention to where you put your allowance.
Remember, 1 dime goes to the offering at Sunday School, because God has given us the gifts of life and love.
2 dimes go to your piggy bank so you’ll have money for something you want.
And 2 dimes are yours to spend, or give.
Over the years, the amount received changed, but the concepts of
investing in church,
building savings,
and money which could be spent
continued.
What about you? Did you have someone teach you to bring a portion of your assets to share with the church? Have you taught others to do this?
We give because God has given so much…
but many of us also give because we’ve learned from a young age to share what we have in order to build up God’s Realm on earth.
However you’ve come to participate in this morning’s offering, we give thanks for each giver and each gift.
Let’s make our offering as our deacons pass the trays.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Holy God, thank you for the gifts you pour into our lives day by day.
Thank you for helping us eagerly respond with our own gifts, in return.
We want to imitate your generosity.
Please accept this offering and multiply it. We want to clearly demonstrate our identity as your beloved children through our giving.
May these financial gifts become seeds of your love in the world, springing up into giant oaks which help shelter those who are without a house,
and provide peace for those who are in the midst of distress. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
When we gather around this table, we’re challenged by the teachings of Ephesians 4.
Here, we’re asked to live by rules for a new life:
speak the truth to our neighbors
let no evil talk come out of your mouth
put away all bitterness, wrath, anger, wrangling and slander
be kind to one another
live in love as Christ loved us.
A tall order for life! Yet as we make these rules the guidelines for every day,
we find we’re more able to model our lives on the life of Jesus, the Christ.
Today, as these gifts of bread and cup come to you, I urge each of us to take a moment and commit ourselves to these rules not only here in this congregation, but in each encounter we have with others thru’ the coming week.
May this meal brand us as CHRISTIAN, so others will recognize we live by a different standard.
And may our actions become habits, giving us opportunity to act in a Christ-like manner each day, in every way.
Come! Let’s share this meal, and then carry with us the intention to live out our identity.