The Celebration of the Gospel
June 22, 2014 —Second Sunday after Pentecost
“Go from your country and your kindred and your family home to the land I will show you…
so that you will be a blessing.”
— Genesis 12.1-2
_________ We Gather as The Body of Christ_________
GREETING
PRELUDE My Hope Is Built On Nothing Else Camil Van Hulse
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Beckoning God, you call us.
All: Wandering Jesus, you invite us to come.
Moving Spirit, you go with us.
Holy One, we follow you, even into the unknown, so that we may be a blessing.
* SONG Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah Blue hymnal #127
CHILDREN’S TIME
_________________ We Attend to the Word_________________
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see all that is in us that is loving,
and all that is not loving.
By the grace that we know in Christ,
receive us, forgive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE
THE WORD IN SONG Toccata in D Minor J. S. Bach (Ben Kendrick, piano)
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of the journey, God of the unknown, you spoke to Abram and Sarai and called them to a new place. Speak to us now. Call us, and we will follow. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Genesis 12.1-5
[God calls Abram (soon to become Abraham) from his native land to a land of Canaan. God promises that Abram will have land and many descendants, and especially that they will be a blessing to all on earth.]
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your people and your home to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan.
PSALTER Psalm 121
This may have been sung by people, like Abram, on a journey: pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. The traveler looks at the mountains she must cross in her journey, where bandits hide and other religions have their shrines, and asks, “Where does my help come from?” It comes from God, who is faithful.]
I look up at these mountains I must cross.
Who will help me through?
Our help comes from God,
who made these mountains, and knows them.
God will not let your foot slip,
but will be watchful every step.
The One who holds all of us close
will not lose interest or get distracted.
The Holy One holds you close,
and is your shade in the hot sun.
Neither the brutal heat nor the biting cold
will hurt us in the arms of the Beloved.
The Loving One will guard you from all evil,
and will keep your life.
God will hold in loving hands
our traveling and our resting,
each moment, now and always.
NEW TESTAMENT Romans 6.1-11
[Paul says that we die with Christ, leaving behind our self-centered lives, and we are raised with Christ to a new kind of living that is free from the powers that used to control us. We are “dead to sin and alive to God.”]
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin since there will just be more forgiveness? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into Christ’s death? Therefore we have been buried with Jesus by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God, so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with a death like Christ’s, we will certainly be united with a resurrection like Christ’s. We know that our old self was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Christ. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Christ. The death Christ died was a death to sin, once for all; but the life Christ lives is life to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
GOSPEL Matthew 10.24-31
[Jesus warns us, as his servants and messengers, that since people criticize him, they will also criticize us: “How much more will they malign those of his household.” But he reassures us that God, who cares for even the wild birds, will watch over us.]
“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
“So don’t let anybody intimidate you; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the rooftops.
Do not fear those who can kill the body but can’t touch the soul; rather fear what can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from God, who pays attention even to the hairs on your head. So do not be afraid; you are more precious than a flock of sparrows.
SERMON
SONG The Summons Black hymnal # 2130
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.
PASSING THE PEACE
___________ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World___________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS Hey There Delilah Tom Higgenson
* OFFERING SONG Seek Ye First Blue hymnal # 405
PRAYER
Gracious God, we give you these gifts as symbols of our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. By your life-giving Word and your loving presence, lead us into the world to new places, trusting you in the unknown, for the sake of the blessing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Lead On, O Cloud of Presence Black hymnal # 2234
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE Please stand and sing to your 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 Holy, Holy, Holy Thomas Canning
[Companions in the spirit are ready for anyone who wishes for us to pray with you or for you.
Simply join us at a prayer candle during the postlude..]