The Celebration of the Gospel
September 9, 2018 — 16th Sunday after Pentecost
Looking up to heaven, Jesus sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”
— Mark 7.34
_______We Gather as the Body of Christ_____
GREETING
PRELUDE He Leadeth Me Wm. Bradbury, arr: Larry Shackley
[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: God of ancient truth, our ancestors lead us to this place.
All: We open our minds to your Word.
Gentle Christ, your loving community gathers us here to be changed by your grace.
We open our hearts to your love.
Holy Spirit, our thirst for you has brought us to worship.
We open our lives to your power,
and we open our arms to one another,
that we may open ourselves to the world, in the love of Christ. Amen.
* SONG
Praise the Source of Faith and Learning Black hymnal # 2004, v. 1,2,4
__________ We Attend to the Word__________
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG Ubi Caritas Maurice Durufle
PRAYER
Spirit of Love, when we can’t hear your Word, or see your Way, we feel deaf and blind. When we can’t sing your praise we feel mute. Heal us. Open our hearts, and set us on a path of endless learning and growing in the Spirit of Christ. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Proverbs 2.1-15
[Listen to God’s Wisdom—it’s not a set of instructions or explanations, but the living Word of God who accompanies us and leads us in the way of compassion and justice.]
My child, if you accept my words
and treasure up my commandments within you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
if you indeed cry out for insight,
and raise your voice for discernment;
if you seek it like silver,
and search for it as for hidden treasures—
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from God’s mouth come knowledge and understanding;
God stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
the Lord is a shield to those who walk blamelessly,
guarding the paths of justice
and preserving the way of faithful people.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
enlightenment will whine on you;
and discernment will guard you.
It will save you from the way of evil,
from speaking perversely,
from forsaking the paths of uprightness
or walking in the ways of darkness,
from delight in doing evil
or pleasure in being hurtful;
My wisdom will save you from paths that are crooked,
and ways that are devious.
+
(10:30) * PSALTER Psalm 119.33-40
[A section of a long Psalm celebrating God’s Word, and the wisdom of studying and obeying it. Each line uses a different metaphor for God’s Word: statues, law, testimonies, promise, etc.]
Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes
and I will observe it to the end.
Give me understanding,
that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.
Lead me in the path of your commandments,
for I delight in it.
Turn my heart to your decrees,
and not to selfish gain.
Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;
give me life in your ways.
Confirm to your servant your promise,
which is for those who fear you.
Turn away the disgrace that I dread,
for your ordinances are good.
See, I have longed for your precepts;
in your righteousness give me life.
+
(10:30) NEW TESTAMENT James 2.14-17
[We are not merely learning information: we are learning a new way of living. Faith without is dead if it is not worked out in our living.
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
+
GOSPEL Mark 7.24-37
[Jesus turns down a woman’s request to heal her daughter because she is a foreigner (he calls her a dog!). But in her faithful persistence he sees that she is a human being, and he heals the girl. Then he cures a deaf man with a speech impediment, touching the man’s ears and tongue and crying out “be opened!”]
From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet.Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.
Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, “He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”
+
SERMON Learning a way to live
SONG Open Me Steve G-H
Ears are closed. Eyes are blind.
Searching: no word, no way I find.
I need you.
Touch me and heal me and open my life with your love.
Refrain: Open me. Open me. Open me. Open me.
My mind is closed. Much to learn.
Love, how I need to change and turn.
So teach me.
Open my mind to the new and the whole and to you.
Refrain…
Our hands are closed. Hearts are hard.
The Circle of Life is torn and scarred.
So heal us.
Open our hearts to each other so blessing may flow.
Refrain….
Love is here. Grace abounds.
Heaven itself is all around.
Enlarge me.
Open the doors of my soul and let light shine within.
Refrain…
(10:30) BLESSING OUR LEARNING COMMUNITY
(10:30) * SONG Change My Heart, O God Black hymnal # 2152
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
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 PEACE OF CHRIST
_____We Are Sent in Ministry to the World____
OFFERING OUR GIFTS These I Lay Down John Bell, arr: John Carter
* OFFERING SONG Doxology Blue hymnal #95
* PRAYER
Gracious God, we give you our lives, symbolized in these gifts. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. Open our hearts to be continually being made new in your image, and send us to love and heal the world, in the name and spirit of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Open My Eyes Blue hymnal # 454
* 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
O For A Thousand Tongues Tune: AZMON, arr: Marylin Thompson