Home Church 14th Sunday after Pentecost September 6, 2020, Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church 14th Sunday after Pentecost September 6, 2020 Rev. Karen Hollis

We acknowledge these lands upon which we worship are the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation.

Preparing the Space Around Us

Whoever you are and wherever you are on life’s journey, you are welcome here! Welcome if you are gathering on zoom or if you are worshipping at home with the bulletin. We are one community and all part of the body of Christ. I invite you to prepare the space around you

so that for the next hour you can be fully in this worship experience, not to keep out the realities of the world, rather to focus us in the midst of it all on God. If you need to go and get something or shift something around you, feel free.

Preparing the Space within Us

Let us prepare now the space within us for a time of worship. I invite

you to sit quietly, perhaps with feet on the floor, taking a couple of deep breaths and bring yourself into this moment. Open yourself to the presence of God who is with us and within us . . . as you intentionally open yourself to God, open yourself also to what you need from this time of worship.

Opening Words   Psalm 149:1-4 (NRSV)

Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
   his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
   let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise his name with dancing,
   making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;

Opening Prayer   Gathering

One:    Holy God, we arrive in this place and this time, from our disparate lives and our unique experiences, to worship you, O God, in community.

All:      We come bringing praises, struggles, seeking comfort and companionship.

One:    We come as we are, filled with joy and with sorrow, filled with questions and with doubts.

All:      And you, generous God, welcome each one of us with love, with patience, with compassion. With humility and openness, let us be receptive to being changed through our worship together this morning. All praise be to you, O God! Amen.

Hymn: Holy Holy Holy  VU #315

1 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty!

Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee;

holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty,

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

2 Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee;

casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;

cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,

which wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

3 Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,

though the eye made blind by sin thy glory may not see,

only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,

perfect in power, in love, and purity.

Prayer of Confession  Walter Brueggemann

You are the one from whom no secret can be hid, who sees behind all of our piety, pretense, and cover-up …

and we are the ones with many secrets, some shameful, some shocking, some risky …all of them precious to us.

We begin this day with that acknowledgment before you, you seeing and knowing us, a perfect match for our hiddenness.

Those secrets – conventionally – are about having done that which we ought not to have done, having not done that which we ought to have done. And there is enough of that for the day.

Just behind that – other secrets more telling and risky and surely more scandalous:

 that behind our ready faith comes impatience with you,

  that behind our eager vocation lurks cynicism, because nothing changes,

  that behind our gratitude toward you is our sense that you are stingy with us,

  that behind our much prayer is our sureness about your absence, indifference, and detachment.

All of that – our deep disappointment in you – is signed by our fidelity unappreciated,

by alienation all around not swamped by your love,

by loneliness not visited in gestures of communion,

by all the intractable issues of poverty, homelessness, and violence that we take to be your proper business.

We will keep praying – but now you know.

We will keep praying, but wondering, daring to doubt.

We pray in all our [Good] Friday candor.

Amen

Silent Prayer of Confession

Assurance of Grace

Our wild and mysterious God is always with us – may we always know God’s presence . . .

Video: May Peace Become You  - from The Work of the People

Peace of Christ

Christ is with us and in the space between us. 

Let us share the peace he brings!

              The Peace of Christ be with you!

              And also with you!

First Reading: Mollie Ford
Romans 13:8-14

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Gospel Reading  Angela Nutter

One:      God be with you.       

All:        And also with you

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Matthew

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 18:15-20 "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

        One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

        All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection:                             

Silent Reflection

Apostle’s Creed: Let us affirm our faith . . .

I believe in God, the Father almighty,

creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord,

who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

Prayers of the People    Paddy Waymark

One:    God of Light   

All:      Hear Our Prayers

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 for ever. Amen.

Offering & Thanksgiving   Mona Smart

Let us pray . . . We give thanks for this little church of ours, for the lives we touch, for the path we walk in shared ministry, for the light and hope you offer us, O God. May your dream for us be our dream and may we reach for the future together. In Christ Jesus we pray, Amen.

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. Glory to God from generation to generation, in the Church and in Christ Jesus, for ever and ever. Amen.

Hymn: We Are One    VU #402

1 We are one as we come, as we come, joyful to be here,

in the praise on our lips there's a sense that God is near.

We are one as we sing, as we seek, we are found;

and we come needful of God's grace as we meet, together in this place.

2 We are one as we share, as we share brokenness and fear,

in the touch of a hand there's a sense that God is here.

We are one as we care, as we heal, we are healed;

and we share warmth in God's embrace as we pray together in this place.

Blessing

If you are with another person, you’re invited to bless each other, taking every other line.

One:      The Creator’s blessing be yours on your road, on your journey, guiding you, cherishing you.

Female: The Son’s blessing be yours, wine and water, bread and stories, feeding you, challenging you.

Male:     The Spirit’s blessing be yours, wind and fire, joy and wisdom, comforting you, disturbing you.

All:        The Angel’s blessing be yours, on your house, on your living, guarding you, encouraging you. Let us walk together, a community on a journey, sustained in God’s blessing. Amen!

One:      Let us go now in peace to love and serve the Lord.

All:        Thanks be to God! Alleluia!