Ninth Sunday After Pentecost Worship Order of Service

St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

PENTECOST 9   –    Coronavirus

07-25-2021      10:00AM Zoom Worship

OPENING SONG:    “MY SOUL DOTH MAGNIFY THE LORD” 

My soul doth magnify the Lord.
My soul doth magnify the Lord.
He’s bread when I’m hungry, water when I’m thirsty,
He saved my soul, although I’m not worthy.
My soul doth magnify the Lord!

THE OPENING RITE AND PRAYER OF THE DAY:

L   The steadfast love of God, the life of (+) Jesus Christ, and the growth of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

C    And also with you.

L   We live in a hungry world.

C    Some people are in a condition of abundance, but others are in great need.

L   There are those who have little or nothing to eat.

C    But is that our problem?

L   There are those who are sick and struggling to make it.

C    But is that our problem?

L   There are those who are desperately lonely and feel so forgotten.

C    But is that our problem?

L   There are those who are longing for meaning and justice in their lives.

C    But is that our problem?

L   There are those who, whether or not they know it, long for God.

C    But is that our problem?

L   Jesus has come to satisfy our deepest hungers in a hungry world.

C    And – as we are fed – he invites us to feed one another.

L   May God forgive us our tired old ways of sin, apathy, and neglect,
and those other times when we feel inadequate or afraid.
     May God stir us to gracious living and generous giving,
and create in us NEW hearts, NEW spirits, NEW values, NEW ways, NEW lives, NEW faith,
and NEW community that reflects the love of Jesus Christ.         

C    And let us now pray.
    Holy God, we acknowledge you, the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of our lives,
and Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls.
By your Holy Spirit, help us to comprehend with our minds the fullness of your boundless love, and to have this love rooted and grounded in our hearts and community.
May we, in turn, love the world with a power far beyond what we might imagine.  Amen to that!

FIRST READING:   2 KINGS 4:42-44   [A generous gift and generous sharing, founded on trust in God.]

4:42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.”

4:43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left.'”

4:44 He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the LORD.

SECOND READING:   EPHESIANS 3:14-21   [A community rooted and grounded and even possessed by Christ’s love!]

3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

3:15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.

3:16 I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit,

3:17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

3:18 I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

3:20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine,

3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen

GOSPEL VERSE:
There’s a sweet, sweet Spirit in this place, and I know that it’s the Spirit of the Lord.
There are sweet expressions on each face, and I know they feel the presence of the Lord.

SWEET HOLY SPIRIT, SWEET HEAVENLY DOVE,
STAY RIGHT HERE WITH US, FILLING US WITH YOUR LOVE.  
AND FOR THESE BLESSINGS WE LIFT OUR HEARTS IN PRAISE;
WITHOUT A DOUBT WE’LL KNOW THAT WE HAVE BEEN REVIVED
WHEN WE SHALL LEAVE THIS PLACE!                         (repeat chorus)   

THE HOLY GOSPEL:   JOHN 6:1-21   [Multiplying by dividing! God will nourish and sustain through our giving.]

6:1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.

6:2 A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.

6:3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.

6:4 Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

6:5 When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”

6:6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

6:7 Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”

6:8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,

6:9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?”

6:10 Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.

6:11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.

6:12 When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

6:13 So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

6:14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

6:15 When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

6:16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,

6:17 got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.

6:18 The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.

6:19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.

6:20 But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.”

6:21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

THE SERMON:      Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen

SONG SELECTION:     “JESUS LOVES ME”                       

OFFERING… To the hungry of the world, Jesus says, “Come and eat!” He makes use of what we give to work miracles – just like the boy whose lunch was shared to feed a huge crowd in today’s Gospel. Most of us have something to give. Are we able to risk and willing to share?  

OFFERING SONG:
“Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!
 Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

                THIS IS MY STORY, THIS IS MY SONG,        
                PRAISING MY SAVIOR ALL THE DAY LONG!   [sing the chorus 2 times]

 We are God’s people, we are Christ’s Church, called by God’s Spirit into the world.
 We have God’s power from heaven above, we’ll share God’s justice, mercy and love!” 

OFFERING PRAYER:                     

     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 travel, my service and spending, my health and my wealth, my worship and my witness 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… We pray for NEW LIFE in the Spirit and for the MISSION of the Church to the world!    

THE LORD’S PRAYER

SONG SELECTION        

THE BENEDICTION… We are sent forth to be and become the BODY OF CHRIST for the world!