The Celebration of the Gospel
August 25 , 2019 — 11th Sunday after Pentecost
“Ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham
whom Satan bound for eighteen long years,
be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?”
— Luke 13.16.
________ We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE – This is My Father’s World – arr Tammy Waldrop (Ringtones)
[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: Holy Mystery, we are your children.
All: We turn to you in wonder and in need.
Loving Christ, you lay your hands on our wounds.
We come bent over, and rise in praise.
Holy Spirit, you give us power to heal.
Touch us; change us; send us out as new people.
* SONG
When Jesus the Healer Passed Through Galilee – Blue hymnal # 263
____________ We Attend to the Word__________
PRAYER
Gracious God, Jesus healed the bent over woman. Speak your Word and heal what is bent in us. Lay your hand on us and grant us your grace and mercy. By your Spirit may we rise in gratitude and praise you with lives of love and service. Amen.
HEBREW BIBLE – Isaiah 51.21 – 52.2
[God assures people who have been bent over in exile that they will be relieved of their burden, that those who have walked all over their backs will release them. The prophet calls us to wake up, be free, rejoice and stand tall.]
Hear this, you who are wounded,
who are staggered, but not with wine:
Thus says your Sovereign, the Holy One,
your God who pleads the cause of God’s people:
See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
you shall drink no more from the bowl of my wrath.
And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you, “Bow down, that we may walk on you”;
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to walk on.
Awake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem,
the holy city;
for the uninitiated and the unclean
shall enter you no more.
Shake yourself from the dust,
rise up, O captive Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter Zion!
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* PSALTER – Psalm 103
[God heals our brokenness and sets free the oppressed. God loves us like a mother, and with grace forgives us and removes our guilt from us. God knows how fragile we are, and treats us with mercy. ]
Bless the Holy One, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Beloved, O my soul,
and do not forget all God’s benefits—
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the Pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good as long as you live
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
The Holy One works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed
God made known God’s ways to Moses,
God’s acts to the people of Israel.
The Holy One is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
God will not always accuse, nor keep anger forever.
The Beloved does not deal with us according to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is God’s steadfast love toward those who love God;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far God removes our transgressions from us.
As a mother has compassion for her children,
so the Beloved has compassion for those who love God.
For God knows how we were made;
God remembers that we are dust.
As for mortals, our days are like grass;
we flourish like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Holy One is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who love God,
and God’s righteousness to children’s children,
to those who keep God’s covenant and remember to live out God’s commandments.
The Sovereign One has established a throne in the heavens,
God’s dominion rules over all.
Bless the Lord, O you God’s angels,
you mighty ones who do God’s bidding, obedient to God’s spoken word.
Bless the Eternal One, all God’s hosts, ministers that do God’s will.
Bless the Loving One, all God’s works, in all places of God’s dominion.
Bless the Holy One, O my soul.
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NEW TESTAMENT – Hebrews 12.12-15
[Stand tall and walk straight and seek harmonious relationships, including everyone, because it’s there that we see God.]
Friends, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.
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GOSPEL – Luke 13.10-17
[On a Sabbath Jesus heals a woman who is bent over (”bound by Satan”). A religious authority sees the healing as breaking the Sabbath law, but Jesus sees it in the context of God’s universal work of liberation.]
Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.
But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But Jesus answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie your ox or your donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.
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SERMON – Healing hands, healing eyes
SONG – Heal Me, Hands of Jesus – Blue hymnal # 262, v. 1-2
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, we open ourselves in honesty to God.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see what is in us that is loving,
and what is not loving.
God, we recall when we have received your gift of healing, and we give thanks.
[silent prayer…]
We recall when we have resisted your healing for ourselves or others, and we seek your grace.
[silent prayer…]
We call to mind those places where we still need healing, and where we may be called to be a healing presence for others, and we open our hearts to your Spirit.
[silent prayer…]
God of mercy, in Christ you have touched us, healed us, and set us free.
Touch us, make us whole, and perfect your love in us,
that we may be wounded healers in this broken world. Amen.
[ Silent prayer….]
THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE – Heal Me, Hands of Jesus – Blue hymnal # 262. V. 3-4
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
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 – “Be Still My Soul – arr. Sandra Eithun (Ringtones)
* OFFERING SONG – Song of Healing – Steve G-H
O God of love, O God of grace unending,
come heal your people, body, mind and soul:
those who know grief, whom sorrow is befriending,
the sick and struggling, who know sorrow’s role.
Heal those whose backs beneath their loads are bending;
come set them free. Come heal and make them whole.
Use us, O God: complete the nations’ mending:
make us your hands; show us our healing role;
make us your eyes, your light in all defending;
let healing flow; O, let your justice roll.
Help us, O God, your Holy Spirit lending,
to heal and bless, to make the dear world whole.
* 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. Send us as wounded healers, full of gratitude, to serve you for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG – Make Me a Channel of Your Peace – Black hymnal #2171
* 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