The Celebration of the Gospel
May 27, 2018 —Trinity Sunday- First Sunday after Pentecost
You must be born again from above.
—John 3.7
________We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE There Is A Redeemer Melody Green, arr: Mark Hayes
[As we listen to the music we quiet our minds and bodies,
listen for our hearts’ deepest desires,
and become present to the Holy One who is lovingly present for us.]
* CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Eternal God, Holy Mystery, Infinite Love, we are in awe.
All: Wow.
Loving Christ, Body of God, you heal us and accompany us and show us the way.
Thank you.
Holy Spirit, breath of God in us, re-create us, birth us anew and fill us with your love.
Please.
* SONG Lord, I Want to Be a Christian Blue hymnal # 402
___________We Attend to the Word___________
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
THE WORD IN SONG
Terra Beata / Whole World arr: Brant Adam (Marie Machacek, Trombone)
PRAYER
Loving God, Mother of our Birth and Creator of all things, your Spirit blows where it will. You bear us in your arms through all our lives. We turn to you now to hear your voice, to nurse from your love, and to give ourselves wholly to you. Through the Spirit and the Word give us new birth. Amen.
(10:30) OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 6.1-8
[The prophet sees a vision of God in the Temple. He feels inadequate because of his sin—and his people’s sin—but an angel sears his lips with a burning coal: he has been purified. Then God asks “Who shall I send?” and the prophet replies, “Send me.”]
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw God sitting on a throne, high and lofty, the hem of whose robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above God; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is Yahweh Omnipotent;
the whole earth is full of God’s glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the Ruler, Yahweh Omnipotent!” Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Holy One saying, “Who shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, “Here am I; send me!”
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NEW TESTAMENT Romans 8.12-17
[Paul says rather than living according to our self-limited desires (“the flesh’), we live by God’s spirit in us, since we are God’s children. In this Spirit we are radically free.]
The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you. And the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through God’s Spirit that dwells in you.
So then, sisters and brothers, we are not defined by our flesh — to live as if we are merely self-contained bodies — for if you live confine yourself to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the desire simply to preserve your body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified with Christ.
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GOSPEL John 3.1-8
[Jesus tells Nicodemus that we must be born “from the top,” that is, both from God and also anew, over and over. We receive our life from God.]
Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.”
Jesus said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the Realm of God without being born anew from above.” Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can you enter a second time into your mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the Realm of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew from above.’ The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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SERMON Newborn again
SONG Change My Heart, O God Black hymnal # 2152
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
___________We Share at Christ’s Table_________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS Holy, Holy Jimmy Owens, arr: Fred Bock
* COMMUNION SONG
Born again, we turn to you, infants at the breast.
Here we eat and drink your love, claimed and held and blessed.
Fill us, change us, birth us, send us.
Spirit of the living God, make us new in you.
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
Preface [sung]
Creator God, Infinite Love, Holy Mystery, all the universe is born in you.
All life is within you; you hold all Creation in your heart.
Eternal one, we give you our thanks and praise!
You give us life; you set us free; you walk with us.
You who are invisible, beyond all we know,
we cannot behold you, yet we see your presence in everything.
Open our eyes to see you in this meal as, with all Creation, we sing your praise.
[Sanctus sung]
Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He embodied your love: he taught and healed,
he enacted justice and gathered a community of radical love.
He invited us to be continually changed, born again in your Spirit,
dying and rising in your love.
[The Blessing and Covenant…]
Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
[Sung] Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
born again and again in your Spirit, made new in your love,
sent out to love the world, for your eternal glory.
[sung] Amen.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
SHARING THE HOLY MEAL [Everyone is welcome at the table of Christ’s self-giving love.
The bread is wheat-, soy- and dairy free. We dip the bread in the juice.]
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. As you have fed us in this meal, give new birth to us in every breath: continually make us new in love for you, for each other, and for the world, in the name and Spirit of Christ. Amen.
______ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Shalom to You Blue hymnal #666
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE We stand and sing to our neighbors:
May the grace and peace of Christ be with you my friends.
Go and share the love of God, love that never ends.
POSTLUDE Postlude On “Hymn To Joy” L. van Beethoven, arr: Jason D. Payne
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]