September 6, 2020
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
*Indicates the time you are to stand in body or spirit. Bold indicates congregational participation.
GATHERING IN GOD’S PRESENCE
GREETING & ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE Amy Alley
GREETING & ANNOUNCEMENTS
We welcome all to this service of worship!
*CALL TO WORSHIP
People of God, open your eyes! Look around!
The presence of Jesus Christ is here—among us and within us.
God’s salvation is close at hand—nearer than you know.
So we open our hearts and minds to the Spirit,
and we worship God together! Alleluia!
OPENING PRAYER
God of justice, peace and righteousness
Breathe your breath on us -
your energy,
your enlivening,
your imagination.
Wake us up.
Open our eyes.
Unplug our ears -
that we might hear
that we might see
that we might grieve
that we might dream
that we might follow your ways. Amen.
OPENING HYMN All Creatures of Our God and King
CALL TO CONFESSION
SILENT PRAYER OF CONFESSION
CORPORATE PRAYER OF CONFESSION
We are workers, God, just like you.
We confess that our actions
do not always affirm and honor each other.
Our work is not always done in a spirit that is pleasing to you.
We confess that we have blindly bought goods
made by people who are paid too little
or work in unsafe conditions.
We have failed to end an unjust system
in which some have jobs that provide good wages and benefits
while others may have no job,
or jobs that pay little or provide few benefits.
Creator God, in your mercy, forgive us.
Help us to be your people,
working for a world --
where those who clean houses are also able to buy houses to live in.
where those who grow food can also afford to eat their fill.
A world where all workers everywhere
share in the abundance that you have given us. Amen.
WORDS OF ASSURANCE
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
(Worshipers are invited to share the peace of Christ with those worshiping around them.)
The peace of Jesus Christ be with you.
And also with you
GLORIA PATRI
THE WORD
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
God of Truth, you reveal to us your essence and glory.
Open our minds to contemplate what we cannot comprehend,
to study what we cannot completely grasp,
and to live into a Shalom we cannot imagine. Amen.
SCRIPTURE LESSON Exodus 12:1-14
For the Word of God in Scripture,
For the Word of God among us,
For the Word of God within us,
Thanks be to God.
SCRIPTURE LESSON Matthew 18:15-20
For the Word of God in Scripture,
For the Word of God among us,
For the Word of God within us,
Thanks be to God.
RESPONDING TO THE WORD
Declaration of our Christian Faith Traditional Apostles' Creed
THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD’S SUPPER
(THE FOLLOWING IS THE INSERT)
OFFERTORY Amy Alley
Prayer of Dedication
We work with and for you, God, in whatever we do.
All our time we spend for you.
Thank you for jobs which provide us with an income
or pensions and savings that support us.
Use these offerings in your kingdom work,
as you provide good news, healing and hope to all people. Amen.
INVITATION
Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is truly right and our greatest joy to give you thanks and praise.
You are the creator and sustainer of all life.
You spread out the dazzling canopy of the heavens;
you established the deep foundations of the earth.
You filled the earth with creatures
and made us in your image to care for them.
In the fullness of time, out of your great love for creation,
you sent Jesus to redeem and restore the earth,
mending its brokenness, making all things new.
Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with choirs of angels,
With prophets, apostles, and martyrs, with all creatures great and small,
Who forever sing to the glory of your name:
Holy, holy, holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory;
hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
You are holy, O God of majesty, and blessed is Jesus Christ,
your Word made flesh:
the one who brought order to chaos;
the light who shined in darkness;
the water who quenches our thirst;
the bread who rises from the earth;
the vine who connects all creation;
the life who death could not destroy.
Remembering your gracious acts in Jesus Christ,
we take from your creation this bread and cup.
We celebrate Christ’s dying and rising, and we offering ourselves to you.
Gracious God, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us,
and upon these your gifts of bread and cup:
that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be
the communion of the body and blood of Christ.
By your Spirit, make us one with Christ, restored in his image,
a new creation begun.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever. Amen.
The Lord's Prayer
WORDS OF INSTITUTION
Sharing of the Bread and Cup
Prayer after the Lord’s Supper
Jesus,
through your death and resurrection
you reconciled the world to God,
and through your example you have shown us a way to peace.
Give us strength as your people
to be channels of peace in the world. Amen.
(THESE WORDS ARE THE END OF THE INSERT)
Closing Hymn Lord dismiss us with your blessing
Lord, dismiss us with your blessing;
fill our hearts with joy and peace;
let us each, your love possessing,
triumph in redeeming grace.
Oh refresh us, oh refresh us,
traveling through this wilderness
Thanks we give and adoration
for your gospel's joyful sound;
may the fruits of your salvation
in our hearts and lives abound.
Ever faithful, ever faithful
to your truth may we be found.
*CHARGE & BENEDICTION
*POSTLUDE Amy Alley