15TH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST Worship Order of Service
PENTECOST 15 Coronavirus Grandparents Day
09-13-2020 10:00AM Worship
(Welcome / Greeting by the Pastors)
THE OPENING RITE:
L Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless God’s holy name!
C- Lord, you are full of compassion and mercy,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
L And so we come to you, gracious God, in a spirit of humility, to confess. [A brief silence is kept.]
C- O Lord, if you decided to love and forgive us to the same degree that we love and forgive one another, then we’d all be in trouble.
Help us to learn from your mercy and patience to have mercy and patience toward those we think have done us wrong.
And also, Lord, teach us how to love ourselves as you love each of us.
Whether we are feeling so self-righteous about our goodness or are haunted by the evil we have done, show us your grace and free our hearts to live in the peace of Christ. Amen.
L Sisters and brothers in Christ, God does not deal with us according to our sins.
God’s grace is open to all of us, and you are forgiven, through (+) Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Savior.
May you accept God’s gift of pardon and forgive others as you have been forgiven! Amen.
OPENING SONG: “I Will Bless Thee, O Lord”
I will bless Thee, O Lord! I will bless Thee, O Lord!
With a heart of thanksgiving, I will Thee, O Lord!
With my hands lifted up, and my mouth filled with praise,
With a heart of thanksgiving, I will bless Thee, O Lord!” [repeat]
PRAYER OF THE DAY:
Let us pray.
Lord, what do we owe for love so divine, for mercy we have not earned, for forgiveness we do not deserve?
Help us to extend the patience and the pardon that you have given us to the world we live in.
Teach us to forgive and forgive and then, to forgive again.
Give me the words and courage to say sincerely to others, “You are forgiven”.
And help me to ask for forgiveness from you and from those I have wronged. Amen.
FIRST READING: GENESIS 50:15-21 [Unexpected forgiveness instead of bitterness and revenge. Joseph will offer God’s mercy… will his brothers receive it? Will you offer it? Receive it?]
50:15 Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”
50:16 So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died,
50:17 ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
50:18 Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.”
50:19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?
50:20 Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.
50:21 So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.
WOMEN’S DAY “TEMPLE TALK”… This year’s theme is “I Am a Survivor”.
SONG SELECTION
SECOND READING: ROMANS 14:1-12 [[In the Christian community we are called to stop fussing with, judging, and condemning one another. With the gifts of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Spirit – and the awareness that each and all of us are judged by God – the Church can abide a lot of disagreement over many other things. IF we are humble and obedient!]
14:1 Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.
14:2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.
14:3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat; for God has welcomed them.
14:4 Who are you to pass judgment on servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
14:5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds.
14:6 Those who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to God.
14:7 We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.
14:8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
14:10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
14:11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
14:12 So then, each of us will be accountable to God.
GOSPEL VERSE: “There is strength in the name of the Lord…
There is power in the name of the Lord…
There is hope in the name of the Lord…
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
HOLY GOSPEL: MATTHEW 18:21-35 [How can a person who is forgiven the equivalent of 150,000 years of wages, in turn, be unwilling to forgive a debt of 100 days of wages? And are we really listening to ourselves when we pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors”?]
18:21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
18:22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
18:23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
18:24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him;
18:25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.
18:26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
18:27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
18:28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’
18:29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
18:30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.
18:31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.
18:32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
18:33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’
18:34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.
18:35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
THE SERMON: Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil
SONG SELECTION
OFFERING PRAYER:
Let us pray. Dear God of amazing grace, you continue to care for us and comfort us, you show us mercy and kindness day after day. In grateful response, help us to offer the hours and the days, the talents and the treasures, our personalities and our faith to extend your love to others. Guide us to be more like Jesus in our walk and in our ways. Amen.
MUSIC SELECTION Dennis Fortune
THE PRAYERS – BLESSINGS OF OUR GRANDPARENTS AND ELDERS… OTHER PRAYERS
THE LORD’S PRAYER
SONG SELECTION
THE BENEDICTION by one of the Pastors.