The Celebration of the Gospel
June 5, 2016 —3rd Sunday after Pentecost
You have turned my mourning into dancing.
— Psalm 30.11
________We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE Adagio In A Flat James Mansfield
[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 all Creation we behold your gifts and we shout Joy!
All: Joy!
Loving Christ, we receive your healing and we cry Thanks!
Thanks!
Holy Spirit, you empower us to bring healing, and we cry mercy!
Mercy!
Holy One, we worship you in awe and praise.
Loving one, we worship you in gratitude and wonder. Alleluia!
* SONG Blest Be the Tie that Binds Blue hymnal # 557
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
____________We Attend to the Word__________
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing arr. Mark Patterson
PRAYER OF THE DAY
God of Creation, in the beginning you began to create, and you created us in the image of your love. Still you create: you bring everything into being. Each moment you make everything new. We die and rise in you, and you re-create us every day. You breathe new life into us and into our lives. Speak your word to us now and create us anew, in the power of your Spirit. Amen.
OLD TESTAMENT 1 Kings 17.8-24
[The prophet Elijah stays with a poor widow and her son during a famine. She gives him her last bit of food, but it continues to last until the famine ends. Her child becomes ill and dies, and Elijah brings him back to life.]
Now there was no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to Ellijah, saying, “Go now to Zarephath (“Zar-a-fath”), which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he set out and went to Zarephath. When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the earth.” She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days. The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
After this the son of the woman became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She then said to Elijah, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to cause the death of my son!” But he said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her bosom, carried him up into the upper chamber where he was lodging, and laid him on his own bed.
He cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?” Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” The Lord listened to the voice of Elijah; the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper chamber into the house, and gave him to his mother; then Elijah said, “See, your son is alive.” So the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”
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PSALTER Psalm 30
[A song of thanks to God: When I cried out you answered me. You have turned my weeping into dancing and gotten rid of my mourning clothes.]
I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
and you have healed me.
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.
Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O Lord, you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face; I was dismayed.
To you, O Lord, I cried,
and to the Lord I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness?
Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me! O Lord, be my helper!”
You have turned my mourning into dancing;
you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
so that my soul may praise you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.
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NEW TESTAMENT Galatians 1.11-24
[Paul describes his life after experiencing his call from God. People are amazed at the change: “he is now proclaiming the faith he tried to destroy!”]
I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I proclaimed is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.
But God had set me apart before I was born and called me through grace. And God was pleased to reveal the Beloved to me, so that I might proclaim Christ among the Gentiles. I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord’s brother. In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; they only heard it said, “The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.
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GOSPEL Luke 7.11-17
[In a story with striking similarities with the story of Elijah reviving the widow’s son, Jesus revives the dead son of a widow in the town of Nain.]
Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!”
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SERMON
SONG As a Fire Is Meant for Burning Black hymnal # 2237
(10:30) * AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
A Statement of Faith from the United Church of Canada Blue hymnal # 883
(10:30) * SONG Alleluia Black hymnal # 2014
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer concern at the microphone.]
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
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 I Surrender All Winfield S. Weeden, arr: Brian Buda
* OFFERING SONG Doxology Blue hymnal #94
* 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. Each moment you breathe new life into us. Send us out to do your will, to offer healing and to proclaim the good news of your grace, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
* SONG The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve Black hymnal #2241
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* 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 Go Forth! Jason W. Krug
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]