The Celebration of the Gospel
July 28, 2019 —7th Sunday after Pentecost
“Lord, teach us to pray.”
— Luke 11.1
_______ We Gather as the Body of Christ_____
GREETING
PRELUDE – Crown Him With Many Crowns – Tune: DIADEMATA, arr: Mark Hayes
* CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: God of love, we ask you to teach us to pray.
All: You show us your grace, and our wonder is our prayer to you.
Christ, your love gives us joy.
Let our gratitude be prayer to you.
Holy Spirit, you fill us with your power.
Let our lives be our prayer to you.
And let this, our worship, bring you praise.
* SONG – Sweet Hour of Prayer – Blue hymnal #496
__________We Attend to the Word__________
THE WORD IN SONG – Pie Jesu – Gabriel Faure (Carol Storrs)
PRAYER
God of truth, Jesus’ disciples asked him to teach them to pray. Fill us with your Spirit, that everything we do may be prayerful. Fill us with your live, that our only desire will be to do your will. Speak your Word to us, that we may hear your prayer for us, and reflect it in the living of our lives. Amen.
HEBREW BIBLE – 2 Kings 5.1-14
[The prophet Elisha heals Naaman of leprosy. Naaman is not an Israelite. God’s grace extends to all people. Elisha instructs him to wash in the Jordan river. Naaman is angry, since, if that’s all that’s needed, he could have washed in one of the rivers of his own country. But his servants convince him to wash, and he is healed. ]
Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man, and the king admired him, because through Naaman God had given Aram a victory. He was a mighty warrior. And he suffered from leprosy. Now on one of their raids the Arameans had taken a young Israelite girl captive, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “If only Naaman would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his king just what the Israelite girl had said. And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”
Naaman went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robe and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robe, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your robe? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.”
So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage.
But his servants approached and said to him, “With all respect, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? Then why not, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
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PSALTER Psalm 85
[We cry: “God, you have forgiven us before; restore us again.” Surely salvation is at hand: love and peace will unfold among us.]
God, you were favorable to your land;
you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you pardoned all their sin.
You withdrew all your wrath;
you turned from your hot anger.
Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
and put away your indignation toward us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
so that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your steadfast love, O God,
and grant us your salvation.
Let me hear what God the Holy One will speak,
for God, you will speak peace to your people,
to your faithful, to those who turn to you in their hearts.
Surely your salvation is at hand for those who fear you,
that your glory may dwell in our land.
Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet;
righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
Faithfulness will spring up from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from the sky.
God will give what is good,
and our land will yield its increase.
Righteousness will go before God,
and will make a path where God may step.
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NEW TESTAMENT Colossians 2.6-15
[Paul describes life in Christ. “Christ” is not just a title for Jesus, but God’s physical presence, the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus embodied that presence, and so does the Church, the Body of Christ. “Christ” refers not only to the person of Jesus but to the cosmic-yet-intimate presence of God that Jesus models. Paul describes how we let Christ be the guiding power in our lives; other forces have no power over us.]
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus our Sovereign, continue to live your lives in Christ, rooted and built up in Christ and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fullness in Christ, who is the head of every ruler and authority. In Christ also you were brought into the faith with a spiritual gift greater than circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh by being included in the Body of Christ. When you were buried with Christ in baptism, you were also raised with Christ through faith in the power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
And when you were dead in trespasses and captivity to your flesh, God made you alive together with Christ, when God forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. God set this aside, nailing it to the cross. God disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
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GOSPEL Luke 11.1-13
[Jesus teaches a prayer. We have come to know Matthew’s version of the prayer, slightly amplified, as the Lord’s Prayer or the Prayer of Jesus. Jesus speaks of God’s generosity: ask and it will be given; knock and the door will be opened. ]
Jesus was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”
And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set before him.’ And he answers from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever he needs.
So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!”
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REFLECTION – The Prayer of Jesus
SONG – Forgive our Sins as We Forgive – Blue hymnal # 390
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – Blue hymnal # 889
* SONG – Alleluia
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
RESPONSE: This is my prayer. All: This is our prayer.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS (Ecumenical version)
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
____ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
OFFERING OUR GIFTS – The Lord’s Prayer – Albert Hay Malotte, arr: Don Hustad
* OFFERING SONG – Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow – Blue hymnal # 94
* 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. By the power of your Spirit make all of our lives a pray to you, that in all we do or say, your will be dome and your Realm of mercy and justice come among us, for the sake of all Creation, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG – Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing – Blue hymnal #671
* 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 – Rejoice, The Lord Is King – John Darwall, arr: Cindy Berry