Home Church June 21,2020 Third Sunday after Pentecost

Home Church

3rd Sunday after Pentecost

June 21, 2020

Rev. Karen Hollis

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.

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    

Opening Prayer  

Read the prayer slowly.                            

Most wonderful God, we praise you for the riches of love that enable

us to come together in this place of prayer to celebrate your goodness. Lead us this day in the ways of beauty and wonder, your amazing and unending love. Your holy Son has taught us that none of our concerns

 lie outside your love, and no person is ever irrelevant or dispensable. Teach us the way of quiet trust, that placing all our affairs in your hands, we may live faithfully and lovingly, allowing your Spirit to guide our feet

in the way of your peace. Through Christ Jesus our Lord we pray, Amen.

Hymn: Open My Eyes that I May See                                 VU #371

1Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth thou hast for me;
place in my hands the wonderful key
that shall unclasp and set me free.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my eyes, illumine me, Spirit divine!

2Open my ears, that I may hear
voices of truth thou sendest clear;
and while the wave-notes fall on my ear,
everything false will disappear.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit divine!

3Open my mouth, and let me bear
gladly the warm truth everywhere;
open my heart and let me prepare
love with thy children thus to share.
Silently now I wait for thee,
ready, my God, thy will to see.
Open my heart, illumine me, Spirit divine!

Prayer of Confession:  Adapted by John Veltri SJ, edited

This is the time for our world, our nation, our culture . . . for us to listen and to hear all who have been kept silent. Here in this space of love

and prayer, let us open our whole selves to God . . .

            Teach me to listen, O God, to those nearest me,

            my family, my friends, my neighbours.

            Help me to be aware that no matter what words I hear,

            the message is, “Accept the person I am. Listen to me.”

 

            Teach me to listen, my caring God, to those far from me –

            the rage and fear of the unheard,

            the hundreds of thousands marching in the streets.

            The whisper of the hopeless, the plea of the forgotten.

 

            Teach me to listen, O God my Mother, to myself.

Help me to be less afraid to trust the voice inside –

the truest voice speaking in the deepest part of me.

 

            Teach me to listen, Holy Spirit, for your voice –

            in ease and in discomfort, in busyness and in boredom,

            in certainty and in doubt, in noise and in silence.

 

            Teach me, Lord, to listen. Amen

 

Silent Prayer of Confession

 

Assurance of Grace God’s voice can be heard everywhere, inside

of us, in the voices of those around us, in the wind blowing through

the trees, in the water crashing against the shore, in every unexpected place. God is still speaking to us the word we need to hear.

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!

 

Scripture Reading       Don Butt

The Psalm of the day is number 86 – translation by Lynn C. Bauman

Listen for the word of God to you this morning . . .

My God, stoop down to me,

   and putting close your ear, let me speak of poverty,

And my misery of life to you.

   I beg you, then, to whisper back your answer clear.

I am your faithful servant, and I trust you, Lord

   to keep a watchful eye upon my path of life

Treat me with greatest mercy and most tender care,

   for you, my God, are all I have,

There is no one else but you to whom I speak

   throughout the day.

So I lift my soul to you,

   that you would flood my heart with secret joy.

For in your presence goodness flows

   as constant as a stream, forgiving me.

This is the essence of your love

   for anyone who calls to you.

O listen, Lord,

   I speak these inner words.

And when I cry to you in times of pain,

   please answer me.

I know that no one else is like you, God, no one,

   and nothing compares to you,

   nor can accomplish what you do.

Let this be known across the face of earth,

   so every nation may receive the gift

   of knowing you.

Give back to them your name,

   so they can know

   that it is your works, O God, that fills the world.

So give us strength when weak,

   and fill our want with mercy’s greatest gifts.

These signatures of grace you write across our lives,

   confounding all who do not know or see but only

   seek our harm.

These gifts of yours bring deepest comfort

   to our hearts and minds.

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 10:24-39

 ‘A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master;

 it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like

the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ‘So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known.  What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

 

‘Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven. ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

One: This is the Gospel of Christ;

All:   Praise be to Jesus Christ

Reflection:       Jesus Sends Disciples      

Silent Reflection

 

A 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 Angela Nutter                                                   

One:    God of Peace

All:      Hear Our Prayer

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.

Indigenous People’s Day

I have a good friend who is a woman of colour in Seattle – she has been very vocal in the past few weeks about the importance of doing our own work, doing our own research, of educating ourselves, and not looking to the people of colour in our midst to teach us or give us resources. And the resources available are abundant! Attached to the email containing this morning’s bulletin is a collection of videos and resources about Indigenous Peoples of Canada. I encourage you to spend some time with them this week and see where you find yourself in the midst of it all. The time has come to begin having this conversation.

Let us pray: Loving God, God of all peoples and ethnicities, we come to you in prayer, mindful of the great awakening that has taken hold of our world. We pray that you would give us courage to do our part: to get out of the way, to be allies, to join the fight for change. Help us to access the resources we need to be aware of ourselves, and give us ears to listen to the unheard. Help us to be in service of healing and wholeness. In Christ’s name 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: Be Thou My Vision VU #642

1Be thou my vision, O joy of my heart;
naught be all else to me, save that thou art,
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

2Be thou my wisdom, my calm in all strife;
I ever with thee, and thou in my life;
thou loving parent, thy child may I be,
thou in me dwelling, and I one with thee.

4Riches I heed not, nor vain empty praise,
thou mine inheritance, now and always;
thou and thou only, first in my heart,
great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.

5Great God of heaven, after victory won,
may I reach heaven's joys, O bright heaven's sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
still be my vision, O ruler of all.

Blessing