12th Sunday After Pentecost Worship Order of Service

PENTECOST 12 Coronavirus

08-23-2020 10:00AM Worship

WORDS/INSTRUCTIONS by our Zoom Co-Hosts: Veronica Britto & Charlotte Webb

WELCOME/GREETING by The Rev. David Maddox II

OPENING SONG: “Oh, Lord, I Thank You” sung by Margie Wright

THE OPENING RITE:
L Thank God for the gift of life!
Thank God for the gift of faith!
Thank God for the gift of Jesus!

C We give thanks to God with our praise and our lives,
we give thanks for God’s steadfast love and sturdy faithfulness,
and we give thanks for God’s tender mercy and life-giving power!

L When we remember our story and look to God’s past blessings,
we feel rock-strong in hope as we look to the future.
We thank God for delivering us again and again!

C And when we remember our Christian calling – to offer ourselves –
we are transformed and renewed to witness in every word that we speak, through every action that we do.
We thank God for grace and for gifts to share!

L And when we remember who Jesus is for each and all of us – our Savior, our Lord! –
we become living stones of God’s house, creating community, setting people free.
We thank God for giving us the mission and the message of Christ!

PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Let us pray.
O God, with all your faithful followers of every age, we praise you, the rock of our faith.

Don’t ever allow us to become a “false self” that is conformed to this world’s fading treasures, fleeting pleasures, or phony values.

Transform us to become our “true self”, bearing the name, the spirit, and the mission of Jesus. Amen.

FIRST READING: ISAIAH 51:1-6 [Remember your story. Look to God’s past blessings to find solid footing for the future.] Read by JoAnn Milligan

51:1 Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.

51:2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.

51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.

51:4 Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples.

51:5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.

51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.

SONG SELECTION: sung by Iyanna

SECOND READING: ROMANS 12:1-8 [Remember your calling. Put your daily living where your beliefs are.] Read by Ben Shipanga

12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

12:2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect.

12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

12:4 For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function,

12:5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith;

12:7 ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching;

12:8 the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

GOSPEL VERSE: sung by Trudi Wright

“More about Jesus would I know, more of His grace to others show,
More of His saving fullness see, more of his love who died for me.
MORE, MORE ABOUT JESUS… MORE, MORE ABOUT JESUS…
MORE OF HIS SAVING FULLNESS SEE, MORE OF HIS LOVE WHO DIED FOR ME.
More about Jesus let me learn, more of his holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my Teacher be, showing the things of Christ to me.”

HOLY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 16:13-20 [Remember your Lord. Live faithfully and love fervently… each day, every day, always, and in all ways. This is how you show who Jesus is, but also who you are.] Read by  Christina Crawford

16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

16:14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.

16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

16:20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

THE SERMON: The Rev. David Maddox II

SONG SELECTION: sung by Paul Samuel

OFFERING PRAYER: recited by Queen Sutton

Lord God, thank you for making a way out of no way in my life! During this summer may I dedicate my leisure and my work, my rest and my travel, my service and my spending, my health and my wealth, my worship and my witness – all that I am and have and seek – to glorify You and to extend your Kingdom to others. Someone somewhere is in need of your Good News. Amen.

MUSIC SELECTION: Dennis Fortune

THE PRAYERS: Linda Crawford

THE LORD’S PRAYER

SONG SELECTION: sung by Laura Dijols

THE BENEDICTION:

My friends, when you answer the question, “Who do I say Jesus is?”,
you are also answering the question, “Who am I?”
Just as Simon was given a new name – “Rocky” – let the Lord give you a new name, a new self, as new obedience, a new faithfulness, a transformed life.
Tell who Jesus is with your lips, in your heart, with your daily deeds, with your values, by where your feet take you, and in your most challenging moments.

May the peace, the power, and the promise of (+) Jesus bless and equip you – now and always, Amen!