The Celebration of the Gospel
September 8 , 2019 — 13th Sunday after Pentecost
Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.
—Jeremiah 18.6
________We Gather as the Body of Christ______
GREETING
PRELUDE – Be Thou My Vision – Tune: SLANE, 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: Creator God, divine artist, you fashion the universe with skill and beauty.
All: We praise you!
Jesus the builder has shaped our hearts with loving hands and a steady eye.
We thank you!
Holy Spirit, breath of new creation, you continually fashion us anew.
We worship you. We open our hearts to you.
We surrender ourselves to your shaping hands. Alleluia!
* SONG – Be Thou My Vision – Blue hymnal # 451
____________ We Attend to the Word__________
(10:30) CHILDREN’S TIME
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG
PRAYER
Potter God, shape us by your Word. Fashion us with your divine skill. In your grace re-make us in your image. Speak to us, and your Word will call us to new life. Amen.
HEBREW BIBLE – Jeremiah 18.1-11
[God says, “You are the clay and I am the potter. I reshape you as I see fit.”]
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Holy One: “Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
Then the word of God came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Holy One. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.
And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.
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(10:30) * PSALTER – Psalm 139.1-18
[God is present everywhere and aware of us and participating in our lives, no matter where we are or in what condition.]
O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.
Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.
How weighty to me are your thoughts,
O God! How vast is the sum of them!
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
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NEW TESTAMENT – Romans 12.1-2
[Paul calls us to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed” by a new way of thinking, and giving our whole lives to God.]
I appeal to you therefore, beloved, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.
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GOSPEL – Luke 14.25-33
[Jesus gets honest about the cost of discipleship. If you’re building a tower you first count the cost to make sure you can finish. Jesus tells us to count the cost of following him: we have to let go of all that we cling to and our loyalty to everything and everyone but God—even our own loved ones, even our own life.]
Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether you have enough to complete it? Otherwise, when you have laid a foundation and are not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule you, saying, `This one began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what commander, going out to wage war against another, will not sit down first and consider whether they are able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against them with twenty thousand? If they cannot, then, while the other is still far away, they send a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”
“Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”
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SERMON – Potter and clay
SONG – Change My Heart, O God – Black hymnal # 2152
* AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
Loving God, you are our creator. You create all things in your love; you create us as an image of your love. You are the potter; we are the clay. We submit ourselves to your shaping hands.
Loving Christ, you who perfectly embodied God’s love, who taught and healed, who fed the hungry and gathered the outcast: you call us to follow you. You were willing to pay the cost for your radical faithfulness to God: you were crucified. But God raised you from the dead. Christ, you call us to surrender all and follow you. We submit ourselves to your life-giving Way.
Loving Spirit, it is by your power alone that we are faithful, You breathe in us; you give us grace to take up our cross and follow. Make us people of trust and forgiveness, people of prayer, people of resurrection. You are the potter and we are the clay: mold us and shape us according to your will. Amen.
* SONG – Spirit of the Living God
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me. (repeat)
Melt me; mold me; fill me; use me.
Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me.
THE PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE
THE PRAYER OF JESUS
Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever. Amen.
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
______We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
OFFERING OUR GIFTS – Nothing Between – C. Albert Tindley, arr: Brian Buda
* OFFERING SONG – Move Me – Blue hymnal #471
* PRAYER
Gracious God, we give you our lives, symbolized in these gifts. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. Lay your hands upon us and shape us continually by the grace of your Spirit, and use us for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG – Have Thine Own Way – Blue hymnal #382
* THE BLESSING AND SENDING FORTH
RESPONSE We stand and sing toyour 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 – Sing Praise To God – Tune: MIT FREUDEN ZART, arr: Gilbert M. Martin