The Celebration of the Gospel
November 13, 2016 —26th Sunday after Pentecost
As good stewards of the manifold grace of God,
serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.
—1 Peter 4.9
________We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE Praise To The Lord, The Almighty Sandra Ethiun (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: God of abundance, you provide every good thing!
All: In gratitude we thank you.
Loving Christ, you bear our forgiveness to us with wounded hands and a generous heart.
In gratitude we praise you.
Holy Spirit, you fill us with your love and courage, your deep desire for justice and mercy.
In gratitude we serve you.
Holy One, with gratitude, with our whole lives, we worship you. Alleluia!
* SONG How Like a Gentle Spirit Blue hymnal # 115
CHILDREN’S TIME
____________We Attend to the Word__________
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.
We confess our sin; we confess our need for God’s grace and mercy.
For letting fear and anger guide us, for all selfish thoughts,
we need your mercy, God, and we pray for your grace. …
For our wounds and weakness, for our sorrow and despair,
we need your mercy, God, and we pray for your grace. …
For our divisions as a nation, for judging and excluding whole groups of people,
we need your mercy, God, and we pray for your grace. …
For those whom we blame and judge, for the sake of their wholeness
we need your mercy, God, and we pray for your grace. …
For hope in the face of despair, for courage in the face of injustice,
we need your mercy, God, and we pray for your grace.
We pray in the name of Jesus, who healed the sick,
who loved the outcast, who forgave the sinner.
Forgive us, God, in your mercy.
Heal us with your grace. Make us whole, Lord. Make us one.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE Come and Fill Our Hearts Black hymnal #2157
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of abundant love, we turn to you from lives of worry and anxiety, and you offer us your peace. We turn to you in our need and you offer us grace. Speak to us now in scripture, in prayer and in silence, that we may hear your Word, trust your grace, and give you our lives, in the spirit of Christ, for the sake of your delight. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Micah 6.6-8
[The prophet describes what God asks of us: not praise and worship or atonement for our sins, not ideology or doctrine, but to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.”]
With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before God with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
God has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
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NEW TESTAMENT 1 Peter 4.8-11
[The writer encourages our love, hospitality and generosity. We are stewards of all the gifts God gives us. We share them mindful that it is really God who is sharing them!]
Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To God belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.
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GOSPEL Matthew 6.19-34
[Jesus cautions us that we can’t serve both God and our selfish desires (“wealth”). He sets us free from the root of our selfishness, which is our anxiety that we won’t have enough. Don’t worry about tomorrow, he says. Pay attention to what is present, be aware of God’s loving presence, and seek to create a just and merciful community. “Seek the Realm of God,” a community of grace. When we do this, we will discover that we have all that we need!]
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal;
but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust consumes
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The eye is the lamp of the body.
So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light;
but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness.
If then the light in you is darkness,
how great is the darkness!
No one can serve two masters;
for a slave will either hate the one and love the other,
or be devoted to the one and despise the other.
You cannot serve God and wealth.
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns,
and yet your heavenly Life-Giver feeds them.
Are you not of more value than they?
And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?
And why do you worry about clothing?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,
even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
But if God so clothes the grass of the field,
which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,
will God not much more clothe you—you of little faith?
Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’
or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things;
and indeed your heavenly Life-Giver knows that you need all these things.
But strive first for the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.
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SERMON Rev David Abbott, United Methodist Foundation of New England
SONG Here I Am, Lord Blue hymnal # 593
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Mother, 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.
PASSING THE PEACE
______We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
CELEBRATING OUR GIFTS
SONG Seek Ye First Blue hymnal #405
THE WORD IN MUSIC Rejoice All Ye Believers Ron Malbry (Bells of Saint Matthew’s)
OFFERING SONG Take My Life, and Let It Be Blue hymnal #399
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, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
POSTLUDE We’re Marching To Zion Tune: “ZION”, arr: Mark Hayes