The Celebration of the Gospel

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
October 26, 2014
8:15 & 10:30 am

Love God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind;
and love your neighbor as yourself.
On this truth hangs all the law and the prophets.
— Matthew 22.37, 39

________ We Gather as The Body of Christ______

GREETING
PRELUDE   Adagio (For The Glass Harmonica)     W. . A. Mozart

[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 Love, we worship you.
All:    Christ, Prince of Love, we thank you.
Holy Spirit of Love, we open our hearts to you.
We receive your love. We wonder at your love.
We offer your love to all the world.
Fill us with your love. Amen.

* SONG   There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy   Blue hymnal # 121

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, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
SILENT PRAYER …   THE WORD OF GRACE

PASSING THE PEACE OF CHRIST

PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of love, you who are merciful and gracious: our hearts are divided, torn between love and fear. Speak your Word to us, heal our fear, and fill us with your love, in the gentle presence of Christ. Amen.

NEW TESTAMENT      1 Thessalonians 2.1-8
[Paul has come to Thessalonica in humility, after being mistreated in Philippi, gently caring for the people there. He wants to share not only God’s good news, but himself.]

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, how fruitful it was that we came to you. As you know, we were treated roughly at Philippi, but God gave us courage to declare the gospel of God in the face of stiff opposition. Our preaching doesn’t spring from any kind of selfish motives, to trick or deceive you. But God entrusted us with the message of the gospel; so when we speak we’re not trying to please anybody but God, who knows our inner thoughts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from anybody, whether from you or from others— though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. We care so deeply for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our whole lives, because you have become so dear to us

PSALTER   Psalm 103   Blue hymnal, page 824
[We celebrate God’s unfailing mercy and goodness]

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name.
Bless the Lord, 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 Lord 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 Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
God will not always accuse, nor keep anger forever.
The Holy One 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; 1
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 Lord has compassion for those who love God.
For God knows how we were made;
God remembers that we are dust.

GOSPEL   Matthew 22.34-40
[Jesus says the greatest commandment, and the essence of our faith, is to love God with all your being, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Love of God and neighbor are two forms of one love: we cannot do one without the other. To obey the commandments is not to follow rules, but to love.]

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, ” “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

SERMON

SONG   The Gift of Love   Blue hymnal #408

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
We love you, God, source of all being, Lover of all Creation.
We give our hearts to you Jesus, our loving brother, you who healed and blessed, who taught the way of love, who embodied the perfect mercy and compassion of God.   You were crucified and died in love, and in love you were raised to new life.
Holy Spirit of Love, we live by your presence and power in our hearts, guiding us in the Way of Love, the path of justice and mercy. By your grace we give ourselves to your work, and we submit ourselves to your delight. Beloved God, in the love and the presence of Christ, in the power of your love in us, may we fall in love with all the world, for your sake, dying and rising with Christ in love. Amen.

SONG   Fulfill Your Love in Me    Steve G-H

THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Mother, our Father, giver of life,
may our hearts always bow to you
May the empire of your love break forth,
your delight blossom among us,
making this earth your heaven.
Give us each moment our life, our breath.
Free us from being judged,
as we free others from our judgments.
Guide us safely through our desires and attachments,
and rescue us from the power of evil.
For the world is yours;
the only real power is yours;
Creation’s splendor is yours,
in this present moment
and in eternity. Amen.

(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG   All things Bright and Beautiful (Bells of St. Matthew’s)

_____ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World______

GIFTS, PRAYERS, PRESENCE, SERVICE AND WITNESS

OFFERING OUR GIFTS   Bourrée from Fireworks Music    G. F. Handel

OFFERING SONG   Doxology   Blue hymnal #95

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. May we be the embodiment of your love, for the sake of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.

THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD

SONG   They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love   Black hymnal #2223

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   The Rejoicing from Fireworks Music   G. F. Handel

[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]