The Celebration of the Gospel
October 14, 2018 — 21st Sunday after Pentecost
“You lack one thing.
Sell all you have, and give the money to the poor—
you will have treasure in heaven—
and come, follow me.”
—Mark 10.21
_______ We Gather as the Body of Christ_______
GREETING
PRELUDE Out Of The Depths I Cry To Thee Max Reger
[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: Giver of Life, you fill us.
All: We praise you.
Gift of Love, you save us.
We thank you.
Power of grace, you bear us into new life,
We serve you with joy. Alleluia!
* SONG Let All Things Now Living Black hymnal # 2008
____________We Attend to the Word__________
CHILDREN’S TIME
THE WORD IN SONG Song of Sustenance from The Lord’s Prayer Experience
PRAYER OF CONFESSION
Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, we open ourselves in honesty to God.
God of love, help us to see ourselves with the eyes of love,
to see what is in us that is loving,
and what is not loving.
God, we recall when we have been in harmony with you, or with life, and we give thanks. [silent prayer…]
We recall when we have been out of harmony, and we seek your grace. [silent prayer…]
God of mercy, in Christ you have shown us your grace.
Forgive us, heal us, and perfect your love in us.
SILENT PRAYER … THE WORD OF GRACE
RESPONSE Alleluia Black hymnal #2014
PRAYER
God we hear your call and we want to follow… and our fears and desires pull us back. Speak to us again, call us again, and stir our hearts to move. Let your spirit move in us, that we may become more fully the people you create us to be. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT Hebrews 4.12-16
[God’s Word is alive, and sees us in our deepest reality. Jesus, the “great high priest,” sympathizes because he knows our weakness and shares our human travails.]
The Word of God is a living being, seeing us with the clarity and precision of a surgical laser, seeing deep inside us, discerning our doubts and our wounds, our gifts and our glory, understanding why we think as we do. No one can hide anything from God. We are our plain, naked selves before the One who asks us, “Who are you really?”
But this is not intimidating. Jesus, the Beloved of God, is a great high priest who presents us lovingly to God. So we trust our faith in Christ. Jesus represents us, even our weaknesses, for he has also been tested, and has turned to God in perfect harmony. Therefore we approach the fountain of grace confidently, knowing we will receive mercy and find help in time of need.
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GOSPEL Mark 10.17-31
[A rich man asks Jesus the way to salvation. Jesus tells him to let go of his money, but he can’t. Jesus says we can’t grasp the reality of God’s grace while hanging on to our possessions any easier than we can cram a camel through the eye of a needle. When the disciples say, “We’ve left everything to follow you!” Jesus replies, “Well, not yet. But whatever you let go of you will receive.”]
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.”
Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the realm of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the realm of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the realm of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”
Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
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SERMON What we hold holds us
SONG Lord, I Want to Be a Christian Blue hymnal # 402
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.
SHARING THE PEACE OF CHRIST
(10:30) THE WORD IN SONG I Want Jesus to Walk With Me arr. Keith Christopher
______We Are Sent in Ministry to the World_____
COMMISSIONING OF CONFIRMATION STUDENTS AND MENTORS
Leader: Members of the household of God, will you support these students with your prayers, befriend them with your presence, share with them your gifts, help them with your service, and show them the way of faith by your witness?
All: With God’s help, we will. We will so order our lives in the spirit and image of Christ that these people, surrounded by steadfast love, may grow in faith, and be confirmed, strengthened and guided in the Way of Jesus.
Beloved of God, will you support and accompany these mentors with your love and faith, hold them in your prayers, and help them by modeling the faith they hope to inspire in these students?
With God’s help we will. We give thanks that they do this ministry on our behalf. We ask God’s blessing for them, and pledge the support of our prayers and our actions, so that they may flourish as leaders, in the name and Spirit of Christ.
OFFERING OUR GIFTS I Have Decided To Follow Jesus Folk Melody, arr: Brian Buda
* OFFERING SONG Doxology Blue hymnal #94
* 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. Speak to the fears and desires in us that keep us from following Jesus. Give us faith to act. Send us in love, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.
THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
* SONG Take My Life, and Let It Be Blue hymnal #399
* 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 Rejoice In God’s Saints Tune: HANOVER, arr: David Cherwien
[Following worship please join us for fellowship and refreshments.]