Home Church 5th Sunday after Epiphany Theological Banquet: Missional February 7, 2021 Rev. Karen Hollis

Home Church 5th Sunday after Epiphany Theological Banquet: Missional February 7, 2021 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. Today we are learning about the Missional stream from Janet Gear’s Theological Banquet. You will hear this theology through the words of the liturgy, the scriptures, songs and sermon. This is the theological stream that offers God’s love to the world in practical ways, like feeding and clothing people.

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.

Greeting
One:    The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,

            and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

All:      And also with you    

Call to Worship   St. Theresa of Avila

One:    Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.

All:      Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion   on this world.

One:    Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good.

All:      Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world.

One:    Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you     are his body.

All:      Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Opening Prayer  Read the prayer slowly. St. Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me a channel of your peace, that

where there is hatred, I may bring love;

where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness

where there is discord, I may bring harmony;

where there is error, I may bring truth;

where there is doubt, I may bring faith;

where there is despair, I may bring hope;

where there are shadows, I may bring light;

where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather

to comfort than to be comforted;

to understand than to be understood;

to love than to be loved;

For it is by forgetting self that one finds;

it is by forgiving that one is forgiven;

it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life. Amen.

Hymn: I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me    VU #575

I'm gonna live so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I'm gonna live so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I'm gonna work so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I'm gonna work so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I'm gonna pray so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

I'm gonna pray so God can use me anywhere, Lord, anytime!

Prayer of Confession                                  

Receive us, O God, in our disbelief that you could love us so completely. It seems impossible that you thought of me when you created the world. It’s unfathomable that you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Instead of receiving your love, sometimes I serve others to earn your love. If I am good enough or do enough good, perhaps I will feel worthy of your love. Forgive me, O God, for believing I know better than you.

Assurance of Grace

There is nothing we can do to earn God’s love. There is nothing we can do to earn God’s love, because God already freely loves us... because we are beloved of God. I invite you to breathe in and receive God’s love… breathe God’s love into the places in you that struggle most to receive it.

Peace of Christ

Christ is not only our host, but the unseen guest in our midst. Let us share with everyone the peace Christ brings!

One: The Peace of Christ be with you!

All:   And also with you!

First Reading: Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Praise the LORD! How good it is to sing praises to our God; for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting. The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the outcasts of Israel. He heals the broken hearted, and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The LORD lifts up the downtrodden; he casts the wicked to the ground. Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre. He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, makes grass grow on the hills. He gives to the animals their food, and to the young ravens when they cry. His delight is not in the strength of the horse, nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner; but the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love. Praise the LORD!

Gospel Reading                                                       

One:      God be with you.       

All:        And also with you

One:      The Good News of Jesus Christ according to Mark

All:        Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Mark 1:29-39 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection: In Service of Christ   (see attached)               

Silent Reflection

New Creed: Let us affirm our faith . . .

We are not alone,

    we live in God’s world.

 We believe in God:

    who has created and is creating,

    who has come in Jesus,

       the Word made flesh,

       to reconcile and make new,

    who works in us and others

       by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:

    to celebrate God’s presence,

    to live with respect in Creation,

    to love and serve others,

    to seek justice and resist evil,

    to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

       our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

    God is with us.

We are not alone.

    Thanks be to God.                                        

Prayers of the People                                            

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   Let us pray . . .

Christ, you have no body but our own, so give us hearts to serve you by serving the world. Reveal to us the places of need here in our own neighborhood and give us hearts of service. During these days of pandemic, the need in the world is great . . . we can’t fix it all, but we can go where you send us. We can ease suffering . . . we can bring light and hope to dark places. Help us to recognize you O Christ in the places you call us to serve. In your name, 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: Will You Come and Follow Me  VU #567

Will you come and follow me

If I but call your name?

Will you go where you don’t know

And never be the same?

Will you let my love be shown,

Will you let my name be known,

Will you let my life be grown

In you and you in me?

Will you leave yourself behind

If I but call your name?

Will you care for cruel and kind

And never be the same?

Will you risk the hostile stare

Should your life attract or scare?

Will you let me answer prayer

In you and you in me?

Will you let the blinded see

If I but call your name?

Will you set the prisoners free

And never be the same?

Will you kiss the leper clean,

And do such as this unseen,

And admit to what I mean

In you and you in me?

Will you love the ‘you’ you hide

If I but call your name?

Will you quell the fear inside

And never be the same?

Will you use the faith you’ve found

To reshape the world around,

Through my sight and touch and sound

In you and you in me?

Lord, your summons echoes true

When you but call my name.

Let me turn and follow you

And never be the same.

In your company I’ll go

Where your love and footsteps show.

Thus I’ll move and live and grow

In you and you in me.

Blessing    Iona Community

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!