Worship Resources for
the Center for Faith and Giving
Pentecost +23
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13
Luke 21:5-19
Call to Worship (inspired by Isaiah 12)
One: We’ve gathered to give thanks to God and call on God’s name.
Many: We’ve come to sing praise to God and lift up the works of our Lord.
One: What makes us rejoice?
Many: Our great God is in the midst of us! Hallelujah!
One: So sing out with joy!
Many: Let’s shout “Hurrah” and tell the earth, “God is our saving grace!”
Opening Prayer
You’ve called us into relationship with you, Gracious God, through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. We celebrate your love, we concentrate on your presence, and we collaborate with all who seek to know you more fully. So draw us close and walk with us today and every day, helping us grow ever more like you. AMEN
Moment for Stewardship
In Luke 21, we read of Jesus’ warning to those who faced challenges because of following Jesus: Arrests, persecution, wars, natural disasters, betrayals by loved ones. Nearly 2000 years later, there are times we can only focus on the uproar around us. Challenges continue to emerge from political leaders, from natural disasters, from news we hear on a 24-hour cycle.
And yet…until the time comes that God breaks more fully into this world, our job is to endure, to testify to our faith, and to live our lives as followers of Jesus.
We may not be able to stop a war, turn a storm, or slide past the disasters which fill the morning news, but we can offer our time, our talents, and our financial resources to support this congregation and reach out to those who are suffering.
What will you offer? Your gifts today will help identify us as part of the great cloud of witnesses who offer life itself back to God.
Prayer of Thanksgiving
God of all life, we want to be faithful participants in your Realm.
We ask you to receive these gifts as signs and symbols of our desire.
Help us put them to their best use.
Then bring us along, that together we might be part of all that you most desire for this congregation and the witness we bear. AMEN
Invitation to Communion
When the days are growing shorter, it’s easy for some of us to want to stay under the covers and not bother to come to worship. Yet it’s precisely NOW we’re reminded this table holds simple elements to be shared with one and all. Missing this meal leaves us hungry not only for this bite of bread and thimble-full of juice, but hungry for the connection with sisters and brothers in Christ.
Remember, Jesus broke bread with his disciples, and it was in the breaking of the bread that travelers to Emmaus recognized their risen Lord. Hold fast to the memory of the first Christians gathering for “the breaking of the bread.” And see in this familiar space the company of Christians who have been part of this congregation over the years (decades? how long have people gathered in this space?).
Come! Remember! And be blessed as you share in this love feast.