Bulletin – Sunday, August 21, 2022 – Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Sunday, August 21, 2022
Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Approach
Lighting the Christ Candle
We light this candle this morning to remember. We light this candle to remember Christ, the Christ that was born in a stable to a young single woman, who would, along with her partner, become a political refugee, the Christ who walked the dusty roads of the ancient world with those whom society deemed as ‘less than,’ the Christ who included women in a world where they were excluded, the Christ who was not satisfied with the status quo and was seen as counter-cultural. As we remember this Christ we are challenged to embody this counter-cultural nature of Christ in all that we do. So let us remember, let us embody, let us change the world. Amen.
Call to Worship
One: We are called to bring a new understanding of God: that God so loves the world.
All: We are the salt of the earth.
One: We are called to bring a new hope in God: that God gives us new life.
All: We are the light of the world.
One: We are called to follow the commandments and the law.
All: The Law of God is to love God and to love one another.
One: Come let us be the salt of the earth, the light of the world, Let us be people of love.
All: As we worship together this day, come let us love one another with the love of God. Let us join together in our love of God to worship and follow Jesus.
Hymn – “Christ, Within Us Hidden”
Christ, within us hidden.
Christ, in all and each.
Christ, who comes unbidden.
Christ, within our reach.
Christ, born in our stable,
Christ, our daily bread.
Christ, host at our table.
Christ, the hungry fed.
Christ, in friendship’s sharing
Christ, in stranger’s face,
Christ, reborn in caring.
Christ, in love’s embrace.
Christ, in bodies broken,
Love new crucified.
Christ, the Word new spoken,
Death by love defied.
Christ, in love recovered.
Christ, in hope revealed.
Christ, in faith discovered.
Christ in tombs unsealed.
Prayer of Approach and Confession
Holy God, whose presence inspires and consoles, you continue your promise from generation to generation. With the dawning light of day you awaken creation to the wonders that await. As the sun sets you pause on the mountain top to offer a vision of what lies ahead.
Living presence of God, whose living amongst creation continue to inspire that we might live in the promise of God and mark our lives with a love that reaches beyond emotion: for your love asks for activity, in worship and service. Embracing Spirit of God, whose embrace offers both impetus and consolation, you provoke within us the recognition of our need of forgiveness. With your overwhelming grace we recognize the many ways in which we fail to demonstrate your love from within.
Forgive us when we are demanding of attention and want to know the answer now; when we are reluctant to stand alongside those in need of our support; when we have not been willing to allow others to speak on our behalf. When we have taken control of everything thinking that we know best, or when we only concern ourselves with our own lives and ignore those around us.
Help us to hear your call to love in a world so full of noise. We ask this in the name of one who came to love, Jesus. Amen.
(adapted from Mary Anne R. Rennie)
Words of Assurance
Time for All ages
The Word
Scripture Reading: Exodus 20:1-17
1 Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3 you shall have no other gods before me.
4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8 Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13 You shall not murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Scripture Reading: Matthew 22:34-40
34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 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.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.
Thanks be to God!
Video – “Under Pressure” (Queen and David Bowie)
Meditation – “To Truly Love”
The Response
Prayers of the People
One: Loving God, you call to be people of love in the world and yet we know how difficult a task that can be. We humbly come to you in prayer today, bringing all that we are, all that we hope to be, and all that we ask to you. Hear us this day as we come together in prayer.
One: In prayer your eyes are drawn to see those in need of love in our community, both here in church and in the community of which we are part. Help us not to be afraid of what is different or unknown to us, but instead willing to offer friendship and accept the opportunities to grow in knowledge and experience. Loving God we pray to you.
All: And in your love answer.
One: Our eyes are drawn to place of power and leadership as we look for those who govern to offer leadership in difficult times. May those who seek to serve as politicians and leaders of communities find themselves shaped by the words, hopes, and ideals of those who place their trust in them. Loving God we pray to you.
All: And in your love answer.
One: Our eyes are drawn to places of hunger and need. Teach us to share the resources we would covet, and enable us through the activity of Your Spirit in prayer and with action to be part of a creation where all are treated fairly, and all have enough to eat. Loving God we pray to you.
All: And in your love answer.
One: Our eyes are drawn to places of violence, strife, war, and oppression wherever they may exist in the world. Help us to be living examples of peace in our own lives and in the world. May we stand in solidarity with victims in their grief. Loving God we pray to you.
All: And in your love answer.
One: Our eyes are drawn to places where sickness and ill health have caused people to struggle, enable us to be a people of empathy, finding grace in places of struggle and strife. We lift up to you this day those in this community whom we hope will feel your loving presence with them as we pray for…Loving God we pray to you.
All: And in your love answer.
One: As You, God of grace, draw our eye back to the world of which we are part may our lives be shaped by you to offer others a vision of Your love shown in our faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
Hymn – “Breathe on Me, Breath of God”
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Fill me with life a new,
That I may love what thou dost love,
And do what thou wouldst do.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Until my heart is pure,
Until my will is one with thin,
To do and to endure.
Breathe on me, breath of God,
Till I am wholly thine,
Until this earthly part of me
Glows with they fire divine.
Breathe on me, breath of God:
So shall I never die,
But live with thee the perfect life
Of thine eternity.
Benediction
Go to celebrate the God who is our home forever. Knowing that God’s love goes with us! Go to follow Christ’s example in loving God, self, and neighbour. Knowing that God’s love goes with us! Go with the Holy Spirit to change the world with love. Knowing that God’s love goes with us! As you go into this week, know that God’s love goes with you today and every day. Amen.
