Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost Worship Order of Service

St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

PENTECOST 12   –    Coronavirus

08-15-2021      10:00AM Zoom Worship

OPENING SONG:    “COME, LET US EAT”                                                                 Brown #119

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   Jesus asks us this morning, “Are you looking for Me because you ate the loaves and had your fill…

because you hunger for what brings temporary satisfaction?

C       Jesus promises us this morning, “I am the Bread of Life. Those who come to Me will never be hungry…

        those who believe in Me will never be thirsty.”

L   Jesus challenges us this morning, “Unless you gnaw the flesh of the Son of Man and gulp his blood, you have no life in you.”

C       Jesus assures us this morning, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise you up on the last day.”

L   Sisters and brothers, each of us has sometimes become disoriented in our life’s journey, hoping for little and accepting less than what Jesus offers us. May God lift our desires above our mere bodily needs and beyond the glitter and the glamour of this world – toward the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom, you see, is already at hand, already available to you through Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen Lord! Is that what you want in life?

C    We pray –

Dear God, your Son Jesus offers himself as living bread for the life of the world.

Lord, give us this bread always!

Be our life-source, be our love-source now and forever.

And make us wise with our time and willing with our gifts to speak love and to share love and to be love. 

Amen to that! 

FIRST READING:   PROVERBS 9:1-6    [Here is your invitation to a banquet of insight and understanding. Become wise!]

9:1 Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

9:2 She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

9:3 She has sent out her servant girls, she calls from the highest places in the town,

9:4 “You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says,

9:5 “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

9:6 Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”

SECOND READING:   EPHESIANS 5:15-20    [Don’t live “stupid” – have a thirst for, get drunk with God’s Spirit!]

5:15 Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise,

5:16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.

5:17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

5:18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit,

5:19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.

5:20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

GOSPEL VERSE:  “Your grace and mercy brought me through, 

                I’m living this moment because of You;
                I want to thank You, and praise You too:       
                Your grace and mercy brought me through.”      [repeat]

THE HOLY GOSPEL:   JOHN 6:51-58    [Feeding on Christ is a healthy diet of the BREAD OF LIFE.]

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

6:52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

6:53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

6:54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day;

6:55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.

6:56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

THE SERMON:      Pastor Gwen or Pastor Neil

SONG SELECTION:    “MORE ABOUT JESUS”

OFFERING… The Christian missionary Paul encourages us to be wise about our lives and to make the most of every opportunity to give of our self and substance to love, encourage, help, serve, and save each other and this needy world. What will you do and give today to increase the flow of the good news of God’s love through Christ Jesus? 

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!