The Celebration of the Gospel
July 31, 2016 —11th Sunday after Pentecost
Alas for those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.
— Luke 12.21
_________We Gather as the Body of Christ_____
GREETING
PRELUDE
[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: Generous God, you give us abundant life.
All: We thank you. We praise you.
Gentle Christ, you heal us in mercy and grace.
We love you. We serve you.
Holy Spirit, you breathe your song of beauty in us.
We open ourselves to you. We worship you. We cry, Alleluia!
* SONG Love Divine, All Loves Excelling Blue hymnal # 384
CHILDREN’S TIME
____________We Attend to the Word__________
THE WORD IN SONG How Great Thou Art Arr. Lloyd Larson
PRAYER OF THE DAY
Extravagant God, you have been rich toward us with many gifts. Of all the things you have abundantly provided for us, we become attached to many things. Help us to let go of them all and cling only to your love and grace. We seek you in your Word, and we seek our own souls in your love. Open our hearts and help us be present for you, who are infinitely present for us. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT Hosea 11.1-11
[God is angry at Israel like a mother whose child has rebelled. But in her compassion she loves us anyway. ]
When Israel was a child, I loved them,
and out of Egypt I called my child.
The more I called them,
the more they went from me.
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them up in my arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of human kindness, with bands of love.
I was to them like those who lift infants to their cheeks.
I bent down to them and fed them.
Oh, I want to send them back to the land of Egypt,
and make Assyria their king,
because they have refused to return to me.
Violence rages in their cities,
it consumes their oracle-priests,
and devours them because of their schemes.
My people are bent on turning away from me.
To a god they call the Most High they cry,
but he does not raise them up at all.
But how can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, O Israel?
My heart recoils within me;
my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and no mortal,
the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.
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PSALTER Psalm 8
[God is so great, and Creation so vast, and yet God is attentive to us humans and has given us glory and worth.]
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
to silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet,
all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
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NEW TESTAMENT Colossians 3.1-11
[Paul says we’re not just near God; with Christ we are within God. ”You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” Paul encourages us to trust this, let go of our greed and self-serving, and put our minds on “things that are above.”]
Since you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds at a higher level, on essential things, not on meaningless details.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God
When Christ— who is your life— is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Christ in glory.
Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is self-centered: grasping for what is not yours, betraying your true nature, being controlled by selfish passions and desires and greed (which is idolatry). God’s fierce desire for change burns in us when we live by these energies. These are ways we all once once followed, when we were living that life.
But now you must get rid of all such things—anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off your old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with a new self, which has a whole new frame of mind, reflecting the image of its creator. In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, native and immigrant, superior and inferior; but Christ is all and in all!
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GOSPEL Luke 12.13-21
[Jesus tells a parable of a farmer whose barns are full but whose soul is starving, who is attached to treasures but is not “rich toward God.”]
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But Jesus said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich farmer produced abundantly. And the farmer thought, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops? I know! I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to the farmer, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”
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SERMON
SONG The Heart of Heaven Steve G-H
There’s a heart in heaven that knows you,
and speaks your name in love from heaven’s throne,
that has laughed and labored here beside you,
and says, “I know your journey as my own.”
There are eyes in heaven that adore you,
and weep with joy at the beauty of your soul,
for they see the courage of your living,
and share your deepest yearnings to be whole.
There’s a tear in heaven that remembers,
there’s a deep, weary sigh that understands;
there are gentle, wounded hands that know the struggle
to do the work of God with human hands.
There’s a voice from heaven within you,
a spring of life-giving water flowing free.
Let it flow, let grace and peace shine in you
with heaven’s loveliness for all to see.
Oh, the heart of heaven is within you,
the universe embraces you in love,
for the humble One who walks beside you
is the One who rules the sun and stars above.
A PRAYER OF WHOLENESS
RESPONSE Take, O Take Me As I Am John Bell
Take, O take me as I am, summon out what I shall be.
Set your seal upon my heart and live in me.
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_____
OFFERING OUR GIFTS
* OFFERING SONG Take, O Take Me As I Am
* 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. You give us our lives as your gift to us. We give them to the world as our gift to you, in the name and Spirit of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Lord of all Hopefulness Black hymnal #2197
* 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
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]