Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Pentecost +12
Call to Worship (in response to Psalm 81)
One: In this safe place, come! Let’s lift our voices to praise God!
Many: We rejoice in the One who cares for all creation.
One: We eagerly anticipate growing in faith as we worship the Lord.
Many: It is this God who yearns to lead us;
One: this God who wants to satisfy us with sweet honey and finest wheat.
Many: So let us worship God!
Opening Prayer
God of the Cosmos, thank you for the ways you support and sustain your beloved children! Thank you for bringing us together in this space as one part of the whole Body of Christ. Thank you for the ways you continue to make yourself known as we sing, study, and share our resources.
Grant us eager hearts, ready to overcome our anxieties, our fears, and our stubborn selfishness as we draw closer to you. Fill us once again with your sweet Spirit, inspiring us to action and to accountability as faith-full followers of Jesus, the Christ. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship (in response to Luke 14:7-14)
Some of us may remember the 1960s. Others may have heard stories about the huge shifts in the cultural identity of people across the US. What do you remember or know about “counter-cultural” life?
Often, reading the Gospels brings us to awareness of how counter-cultural Jesus is. Our reading from Luke 14 clearly points this out as Jesus teaches followers to function humbly rather than presumptuously at a wedding banquet. Once again, Jesus uses a common image to communicate about how God’s Realm works – a wedding banquet giving us an image for the heavenly banquet when all creation gathers.
How counter-cultural is this: Don’t take the best seat! You might get bumped “down.” Rather, take the less desirable seat, from which the host might invite you to move “up” to a better seat.
As we come to our offering, the counter-cultural idea might translate to “don’t flash your finances, announcing how much you give.” Or, don’t make sure everyone around you honors you for your giving.
Of course, generosity is a high value but not when accompanied by bragging or boasting. Rather, let your giving be a loving response to the abundance of your life, and an eager sharing with those who struggle.
All are invited to share financially in support of the “counter-cultural” Christ we seek to follow.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Generous God, we offer these tithes and gifts as one sign of our desire to follow Jesus, who fully shared his life with the least, the lost, the lonely.
No blazing advertisement, no blasting rock band, no boasting braggado;
but grateful givers sharing symbols of our lives in check, coin and on-line connections.
Accept our gifts, and help inspire us to use them to build up your Realm here in this corner of the cosmos. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
Week by week we find the Lord’s Table at the center of our worship.
Some tables have “do this in remembrance of me” inscribed on them. Others are set with simple symbols of Jesus’ body and blood, calling us to claim once more our identity as disciples (life-long learners) seeking to follow the humble Jewish rabbi who stood against the powers of oppression.
Today there are no honored seats, no need to “dress to impress,” no bragging rights for any who come. Rather, all are welcome to share in a tiny piece of bread and a thimble full of juice, recognizing we all have an equal place at this symbolic feast.
Come! Jesus, our host, invites us all to participate.
Christ has died
Christ is risen
Christ will come again!