The Celebration of the Gospel
February 3, 2019 — Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,
and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.
—Luke 4.27
________ We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE Pastorale on “Blessed Assurance” – Phoebe Knapp, arr: Robert Lau
[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: Holy Mystery, Loving One, God beyond our imagining,
All: you create us; you include us; you love us.
Christ, living body of the love of God,
you heal us; you unite us; you give us to one another.
Holy Spirit, breath that breathes in us all, and makes us one,
you break every division among us; you bring us home to each other.
We thank you. We worship you. We open our hearts to you.
* SONG O Young and Fearless Prophet — Blue hymnal # 444
____________ We Attend to the Word__________
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG The Greatest Is Love — Allen Pote
PRAYER
God of love, our tradition both assures us and challenges us. Open our hearts to receive your peace and to hear your nudging. Shape us by the power of your word. We pray in the name and the company of Jesus. Amen.
(10:30) HEBREW BIBLE — Jeremiah 1.4-10
[Jeremiah as a boy resists God’s call, in part because he is so young. But God has chosen him before he was born, and appointed him to bear God’s truth with power and authority.]
Now the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, mighty God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” But Yahweh said to me, “Do not say, “I am only a youth; for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and you shall speak whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says your God.”
Then Yahweh put out a hand and touched my mouth; and God said to me, “Now I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and over powers, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
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NEW TESTAMENT — 1 Corinthians 13.1-13
[Paul says that the whole point of our faith is to be loving: nothing else, nothing less.]
If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love,
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away all my possessions,
and if I hand over my body to martyrdom so that I may boast,
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude.
It does not insist on its own way.
It is not irritable or resentful.
It does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never ends.
But as for prophecies, they will come to an end;
as for languages, they will cease;
as for knowledge, it will come to an end.
For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;
but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child;
when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
For now we see in a mirror, dimly,
but then we will see face to face.
Now, I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.
And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
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GOSPEL Luke 4.20-30
[Jesus reminds his hearers of God’s acceptance of foreigners and outsiders. His audience, who had been at first impressed, are eager to maintain the distinction between insiders and outsiders, and reject his message of God’s inclusivity, and reject Jesus himself..]
The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?”
He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.
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SERMON Outsider God
SONG The Gift of Love — Blue hymnal # 408
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
[Anyone who wishes may share a prayer at the microphone.]
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
__________We Share at Christ’s Table __________
OFFERING OUR GIFTS –One Bread, One Body — John Foley, S.J. , arr: John Carter
* COMMUNION SONG One Bread, One Body — Blue hymnal #620
THE GREAT THANKSGIVING Black hymnal # 2257-a
We thank you and praise you, God, for you create all things;
you create us anew each day, each breath.
You set us free, judge the forces of oppression,
and walk with us into new lives of justice, peace and unity.
We build walls that divide us
from one another, from our true selves and from you,
but you are our unity, our hope and our belonging.
Therefore with the saints and all Creation we sing your praise.
[Sanctus # 2257-b]
Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved and taught, especially the outcast.
He gathered a community of love without borders or boundaries.
He gathered everyone at your table, insiders and outsiders,
destroying all labels, distinctions and divisions.
For his defiance of systems of privilege and exclusion he was crucified.
But you raised him from the dead,
and he lives among us, our unity, our hope, our blood and our breath.
[The Blessing and Covenant…]
Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:
[Memorial Acclamation # 2257-c]
Pour out your holy Spirit on these gifts of food,
that those who receive them may experience your love and grace.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ.
We find our belonging not in human judgments but in your grace,
and we give ourselves to share that grace with all the world.
[Amen # 2257-d]
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.
SHARING THE HOLY MEAL [Everyone is welcome at the table of Christ’s self-giving love The bread is wheat-, soy- and dairy free. We dip the bread in the juice.]
PRAYER OF BLESSING
Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. We are one in your Body. Send us into the world to defend and heal that unity, in the name of Christ. Amen.
______ We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Into My Heart Black hymnal #2160
* 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 Postludio George Blake
[During the postlude there are people ready to pray with you at the candles in the corners.]