PENTECOST 14 Worship Order of Service

PENTECOST 14      Coronavirus

Labor Day Sunday

Back to School” Blessings 09-06-2020 10:00AM Worship

(Welcome / Greeting by the Pastors)

THE OPENING RITE:

L      Where 2 or 3 persons, or even 25 socially distanced people, or where 70 or 700 Zoom households, are all gathered together in the tender and strong name of Jesus –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

C      In our little babies, in our varied-sized boys and girls, in our striving teenagers and maturing young adults, in our middle-aged adults and seasoned seniors, in our families and in our gathered singles –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

L      Especially when we seek to hear God’s Word and to put his Word into practice –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

C      Even when feathers are ruffled and egos are bruised and some of us are angry and alienated –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

L      Especially when we are genuine in giving our words and our embraces when we share our Lord’s peace –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

C      Whenever we refuse to nurse a grudge, keep a score, seek a payback, or walk away forever –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

L      Especially when we offer and ask forgiveness, when we seek and practice reconciliation –

L + C       HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

C      Even when our lives are crumbled in disarray and our world is reeling and vulnerable –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

L      Whenever we seek to show and tell the Good News of God’s love to all our neighbors, near and far –

L + C       HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

C      In our believing, in our thanking and our praising, in our obeying and our serving, in our living and even our dying –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US!

L      Praise the Lord, glory to God, right here and right now, as we gather together in the Body of Christ, the family of faith –

L + C      HE’S RIGHT HERE WITH US, ALLELUIA!

OPENING SONG: “To God Be the Glory”

(1)  To God be the glory, great things he has done; so loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin, and opened the life-gate that all may go in.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear his voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son,
and give him the glory, great things he has done.

(2)  Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood, to every believer the promise of God;
the vilest offender by grace may believe, that moment from Jesus a pardon receive.

(3)  Great things he has taught us, great things he has done, and great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
but purer, and higher, and greater will be our wonder, our vict’ry, when Jesus we see.

PRAYER OF THE DAY:

Let us pray.
O Lord, St. Paul writes that the main quality of a Christian is this:
Love your neighbor as yourself.”
God loved us to save us, and God saved us to love others.
Help us to live for God and for others rather than for ourselves.
In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.

FIRST READING: EZEKIEL 33:7-11 [The prophetic responsibility to “tell it like it is” and to live it how “it oughta be.”  It is not a choice whether to be right, think right, say right, and do right!]

33:7 So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.

33:8 If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand.

33:9 But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

33:10 Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?”

33:11 Say to them, As I live, says the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?

WOMEN’S DAY “TEMPLE TALK”… This year’s theme is “I Am a Survivor”

SONG SELECTION

SECOND READING: ROMANS 13:8-14 [The Christian obligation to love one another, seeking the highest good for our neighbor, staying centered in our love for the Lord. Keep on loving!]

13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

13:9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

13:11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;

13:12 the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light;

13:13 let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.

13:14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

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 18:15-20 [The vital ministry of reconciliation within the faith community. After three unsuccessful attempts, treat the unrepentant person like a Gentile or tax collector – that is, as someone in need of Jesus’ forgiveness, love, and new life. Keep learning how to love better!]

18:15 “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.

18:16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.

18:17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

18:19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

THE SERMON: Pastor Neil or Pastor Gwen

SONG SELECTION

OFFERING PRAYER:

Dear God, I thank you for your mighty mercy, your generous grace, and your liberating love!

Help me to be right, to think right, to say right, and to do right with all that I am, all that I seek to become.

Give me the courage and the trust to carry my cross and to follow Jesus in faithful living and fervent loving.

There is no better life than life in Christ! Amen.

MUSIC SELECTION Dennis Fortune

THE PRAYERS – “BACK TO SCHOOL” BLESSINGS OF STUDENTS, TEACHERS, PARENTS… OTHER PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

SONG SELECTION

THE BENEDICTION:

My sisters, my brothers,

We leave to be God’s family in a world full of diseases, disasters, divisions, and despair.

God loved you to save you… and God saved you to love others.

Love God and your neighbor every day – for real! – and you will honestly fulfill all that God intends.

In the name, in the spirit, and in the mission of (+) Jesus Christ, Amen and Amen and Amen!