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Submit Your Own! August 14, 2011 By D August 14, 2011 Proper Fifteen Ordinary Twenty Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A Call to Worship Leader: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, extends mercy to all. People: Christ reaches to include the outcast. Leader: May each of us welcome the Canaanite woman. People: May each of us recognize that we are the Canaanite woman. Invocation Jesus Christ, you teach us that what comes out of the mouth defiles, because it proceeds from the heart. Guide our words, that they may help those in need, especially the outcast. In your name we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession Lord, before you we are all disobedient outsiders, yet you welcome each one of us. Nevertheless, we are addicted to sinning. We are quick to rank and label people, eager to exclude. We obsess over deciding who is superior, who is inferior. We fear people different from ourselves. We are often cruel toward members of the GLBT community. We are frequently vicious toward Muslims. We cling to stereotypes. We come and kneel before you, saying, “Lord, help us.” Words of Assurance Leader: God shows mercy to every single one of us. In the name of Jesus, God forgives us. People: Let all the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you. Prayer of Inspiration Holy Spirit, make our words come from the Word. Prayers of the People Lord of Joseph and the Canaanite woman, your Church is magnificent. We are in awe of your servant Mary. Teach us to be bearers of God to all the world, to every outsider. LORD, (congregational response: we come to you.). God, you call us to un-Other one another. Throughout history, we humans have been demonic toward each other. White people have enslaved non-white people. Men have beaten women. Christians have murdered Jews. Heterosexuals have sodomized homosexuals. We remember Maximilian Kolbe, Kaj Munk, and all who have worked to correct such injustices. Teach each of us how to accept all people, even when we disagree with them. LORD, . . . Teacher-Mother, we thank you for colleges and other schools. Bless everyone who is starting or returning to school. Help each person to grow in wisdom. LORD, . . . In a myriad of ways, you have healed us. Touch with healing everyone in need. [Add names.] Empower us to be your nurses. LORD, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. We know you hear us. We praise you for answering us. In Christ’s name we praise. Amen. Offertory Prayer We offer you these gifts for your glory and the feeding of the hungry. Benediction Leader: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, guide the words of our mouths, People: guide our hearts, Leader: that we may be Christ-bearers to people of every kind. People: May we show mercy to all, just as God has shown mercy to us. Yes!
David von Schlichten, poedifier August 7, 2011 By David von Schlichten August 7, 2011 Proper Fourteen Ordinary Nineteen Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Call to Worship Leader: The storms are strong, but Jesus comes to us. People: He says, “Take heart; it is I AM.” Leader: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, saves us, People: even though we are of little faith. Thanks be to God! Invocation Great I AM, you are with us even when we think you are not. You surprise us. Strengthen our faith, that we may answer the call to proclaim the Good News anew to those who have not heard your love. In your name we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession God of Elijah, throughout the eons you have showered us with mercy, yet we pelt each other with sin. Our faith is frequently feeble. You call us to share the Good News, but we just turn up our TVs. We think that we’re all alone, even though you have surrounded us with believers and are ever helping us. We drive wedges between steadfast love and faithfulness. We declare righteousness and peace incompatible and break them up. For the sake of our water-walking Lord, forgive us our sins. Renew our power to listen to what you are saying. Please. Words of Assurance Alleluia! Jesus reaches out his hand and grabs us. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Each one of your sins is forgiven, no strings attached. Yes! Prayer of Inspiration Holy Spirit, may our proclamation beget belief and calling upon the Word. Prayers of the People Lord of Horeb, century after century you have provided hope for your people. We are quick to get discouraged, but you are patient and persistent. We are in awe of martyrs such as Lawrence, Maximilian Kolbe, and Kaj Munk. We find amazing pioneers such as Dominic, Clare of San Damiano, Florence Nightingale, and Clara Maass. Humble and embolden us to go and do likewise, for, by you, we can walk on water. All-powerful Lord, (congregational response: your presence causes the wind to cease.). Sinai-Mother, the recent storm in Washington over the debt reminds us of how complicated and messy government is. Take our nation by the hand and lead us away from dysfunctional bipartisanship to unity even in the face of disagreement. Heal us. All-powerful Lord, . . . God of Isaac and Ishmael, we praise you for our Muslim siblings and ask you to bless this Ramadan, that it may be a time of renewal for them. All-powerful Lord, . . . We exalt you, Ima, for healing us. Heal everyone in need, including those we mention in our hearts or out loud. [Add names.] Grant us the dedication to help those in need. All-powerful Lord, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. We bow before you as we lift these prayers to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Offertory Prayer Use our offering to help bring together steadfast love and faithfulness, righteousness and peace. Benediction Leader: We thank you, God, for rescuing us, snatching us from sinking into death. People: We praise you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Leader: Grant us the resolve and courage to share your love, People: to walk on water. Yes!
David von Schlichten, poedifier July 31, 2011 By David von Schlichten July 31, 2011 Proper Thirteen Ordinary Eighteen Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Call to Worship Leader: Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy, and eat! People: God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, feeds us so that we can be bread for the world. Leader: We incline our ears and come to God. People: We listen, knowing that Christ has granted us life. Yes. Invocation We glorify you, God, for giving us this day our daily bread for both soul and body. We lament that billions of people hunger. Fortify us to feed one another. In the name of the Teaching Messiah we pray by the power of the Spirit. Amen. Prayer of Confession You have given us eternal life and a new identity, but we keep walking away from you. We are quick to send people away rather than trying to feed them. We fill ourselves with fast food and gigantic portions while billions of people struggle with hunger. You call us to feast on wisdom, but we’d rather starve to death by stuffing ourselves with spiritual junk-food. By the power of Jesus Christ, forgive us our sins. Empty us; fill us. Yes. Words of Assurance Amazing! Through Christ, God forgives us our sins. All have sinned and are doomed, but Christ has saved us. God empties us, fills us. Alleluia! Prayer of Inspiration Spirit of Wisdom, we come to your table. Through the sermon, nourish us with the Word. Amen. Prayers of the People Abundance-Adonai, the Church is rich with you. Astounding! Continue to teach us to share our gifts for the healing of others. Lord of Wisdom, (congregational response: you open wide your hand.). Elohim, we praise you for your stunning creation, including our nation. Bless our leaders, that they may stop getting bogged down in dysfunctional bipartisan foolishness. Lord of Wisdom, . . . Mama-Yahweh, care for the people of Norway. Help us to understand that, not Islam, but violent extremists are the problem. Lord of Wisdom, . . . God of Generosity, so many of us are over-full of food while Somalia struggles from famine and brutality. Fill us with the courage to bring relief to the Somalis. Lord of Wisdom, . . . Lord, it is HOT! Please empower us to help each other, both human and non-human creatures, to be safe and healthy during this intense heat. Lord of Wisdom, . . . Sophia-Abba, you are generous with your healing love. Heal everyone in need at this hour [Add names], and guide us to help care for everyone in need. Lord of Wisdom, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. We thank you for holding your hands out to us in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Offertory Prayer We offer you these five loaves and two fish to help the hungry. Benediction Leader: Lord Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, fills us with the Wisdom-Feast. People: We enter the week in order to feed all in need. Amen. Yes!
David von Schlichten, poedifier July 24, 2011 By David von Schlichten July 24, 2011 Proper Twelve Ordinary Seventeen Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Call to Worship Leader: God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, makes abundance grow from tiny seeds. People: The kingdom of God is pearl-precious. Leader: The Almighty fills us with wisdom, People: and nothing separates us from the Love. Invocation Holy Spirit, in our weakness, you help us. We don’t know how to pray as we ought. Thank you for interceding for us. Without you, we are like drunken idiots. Open our eyes and ears to Jesus’ parables, that we may be as wise as Solomon. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession Compassion-Adonai, you have granted us holiness and salvation, yet we act like the damned. You offer us wisdom, but we’d rather have a bigger house into which we can hoard more stuff. We blame you for the bad that happens to us. We think you’re far away when you are actually closer to us than we are. You teach us that the kingdom is precious and abundant, but we toss it aside, take it for granted. In the name of the Rabbi-Savior, forgive us. Restart us. Please. Yes. Words of Assurance If God is for us, who can be against us? No one! Through Christ, God forgives you all your sins. Nothing in heaven or on earth can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Prayer of Inspiration Holy Spirit, as we proclaim this sermon, please intercede. Prayers of the People Wisdom-Lord, for centuries you have been teaching the Church the Truth. We thank you for the apostle James the Elder and for all your teachers. Tutor us to be wise. God, (congregational response: nothing separates us from you.). Sophia-Conductor, we praise you for the Church’s magnificent musicians, including Bach, Handel, and Heinrich Schuetz. Conduct us toward sacred mellifluity. God, . . . We cannot thank you enough for the splendor of creation and for making us a part of it. Humble us always to remember and never to forget that you love and redeem all of creation and that we are to care for our fellow creatures. God, . . . Sovereign Elohim, it is easy for us to think that “everything happens for a reason,” meaning that misfortune in our lives is somehow your doing. Teach us to understand that you do not cause misfortune, that the universe is not your puppet but has some freedom, and that you respond to our misfortune by helping us. God, . . . Lord of Story, you poetically edify us through parables, but they can be challenging, even perplexing and shocking. Grant us persistence with parables and openness to the Spirit. God, . . . Ima, you cradle us with healing. Heal everyone in need, including those we mention now [Add names]. Fill us with the courage to help care for those in need. God, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. Hear our prayers and answer them according to Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen. Offertory Prayer This is part of your treasure. May it glorify you and your kingdom. Yes. Benediction Leader: We may be small, but you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, make us grow, rise. People: We leave to spread the Good News-Wisdom. Leader: We know we are never alone. People: Nothing separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!
David von Schlichten, poedifier July 17, 2011 By David von Schlichten July 17, 2011 Proper Eleven Ordinary Sixteen Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A
Call to Worship Leader: Thus says the LORD, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, People: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god.” Leader: God cultivates our wheat and burns away our weeds. God makes us new, pulls us toward the great consummation. People: With the whole creation, we groan for the final redemption of our bodies. Yes! Invocation Spirit of God, Christ has saved us from the realm of the flesh. We cry, “Abba!” We commit ourselves to you, commit ourselves to being wheat for the world. In the name of our Cultivating Savior we pray. Amen. Prayer of Confession We praise you, God, for our baptism into the Messiah’s death. You alone are our God, but we rebel. We chase after flashing, beeping, ringing idols of all sorts. We live like weeds instead of wheat. We exploit creation, forgetting that, because of your grace, creation is holy and destined for redemption, just as we are. We obsess over rankings, hierarchies, constantly competing to be better than someone else. Deliver us from the Evil one. In the name of Christ, forgive us. Make us grow toward the Son. Please. Words of Assurance Alleluia! The LORD has not uprooted us but has been patient with us. In the name of Christ, God forgives you all your sins, no matter what. The first and the last has saved us. Incredible! Prayer of Inspiration Spirit of God, through this sermon, bear witness with our spirit that we are children of Abba, holy heirs. By the power of the Word we pray. Amen. Prayers of the People Eternal Rock, you have been the foundation for the Church. Amazing! Thank you for constructing us and giving us strength. We offer exuberant gratitude for the apostle Mary Magdalene. Thank you for making us, the Church, theorganic, your love causing us to grow. Gracious Gardener, (congregational response: there is no god besides you.). Compassionate and gracious God, you have blessed all your creatures. We exalt you for the magnificence of creation, including us humans. Humble us humans to put aside rigid patriotism and human-centered arrogance, so that we may care for all your creatures, human and nonhuman, and take care of your planet. Gracious Gardener, . . . Abba, Ima, you take such good care of us. Heal everyone in need, including those we mention now. [Add names.] Parent us to be better caretakers of each other. Gracious Gardener, . . . You may add other praises and petitions here. These prayers we present to you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Offertory Prayer We give you this offering with an undivided heart. Benediction Leader: God, the first and last, Father, Son, and Spirit, our Eternal Ima, has watered and nourished you, cultivated you. People: We leave to be wheat for a hungry world. Amen. Yes!
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