Things Of First Importance
Worship
THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE
Liturgical Aids
Call to Worship
The commandment above all others is that we love God with the whole of our being.
For this reason do we gather for worship - to make known our love for God.
Jesus added to this commandment another of equal importance: that we love our neighbor as our self.
Both in worship and in the world we would identify this neighbor and seek to make known a God--given love.
By having these as our priorities, we are not far from the kingdom of God.
Indeed, we would know God's rule in our lives - for this will be hope and joy and peace to us.
Invocation
God, both majestic and merciful, thank you for giving us a focus to our living. We truly know what is of first importance, that which would call forth from us the very best that we can offer. It centers in love for you and in service motivated by that love for the neighbor. Within the bounds of this love and service life finds its meaning. Help us in our worship, we pray, to keep this focus unimpaired - that we be wholehearted in our devotion and single--minded in our doing. In this way would we grow toward that maturity of spirit that you wish and would see in each of us. May it be so - as we hear your Word and follow in your Way. This, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Call to Confession
We tend to forget that living for God and neighbor in the world is of more importance than anything we do here in this church building. For great issues of love and justice far overshadow ritual and church housekeeping. It seems, though, that we continuously get our cues mixed; and instead of playing in a major key, we play in a minor. Thus does Christ's mission suffer, does the neighbor's need go untended, and do we falter in our own growth as children of God. What will it take for us to recognize the true way and to walk in it? Let us come before God in prayer - to acknowledge, to implore, and in gratitude to receive.
Prayer of Confession
God of steadfast love, though we stray from those essentials that mark right living, you depart not from our side, but with great patience await our turning, that we follow again in the footsteps of our Lord. This means bowing before you; this means stooping to wash the feet of both neighbor and stranger. For only in this manner shall we be attuned to your Way and discover that which gives life both meaning and joy. So often do we get wrapped up in the demands of the day that we lose our focus; we see not the purpose that you have for our living. We find ourselves enmeshed in details and lose the larger vision. Help us to see our lives, individually and as family, as nothing apart from you, yet full of meaning and purpose as our actions imitate those of the Christ, as we live his way into the kingdom of God. Forgive us; direct us. We ask this, trusting in your love, which amazingly is always there and includes each and every one who would receive it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah, words that announce the everlasting mercy of our God: "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy upon them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Know that these words are meant for you today, indeed for all who repent and believe.
Praise God that blessings for all of us still flow!
Psalter Reading (from Psalm 146)
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over strangers; the Lord upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Offering Sentences
For God and for neighbor. How can we separate one from the other? In truth, we cannot. What we offer in love to our neighbor is our offering to God. Let our offering this day reflect how we define neighbor, and of equal importance, how we respond to that neighbor's need. For so will be our worship of God.
Prayer of Dedication
Our offerings join bread and wine on this holy table, O God. Just as we look upon the bread and the wine as consecrated elements, so would we consecrate the fruits of our labors to a holy purpose, that of making real your love to any and all in need. So use these gifts - that they convey your Way to the hearts of many. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Benediction
May each of us confess as did Jesus when asked which commandment is first of all: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And may we too add as Jesus did: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." For those faithful to these commandments are indeed not far from the kingdom of God.
The commandment above all others is that we love God with the whole of our being.
For this reason do we gather for worship - to make known our love for God.
Jesus added to this commandment another of equal importance: that we love our neighbor as our self.
Both in worship and in the world we would identify this neighbor and seek to make known a God--given love.
By having these as our priorities, we are not far from the kingdom of God.
Indeed, we would know God's rule in our lives - for this will be hope and joy and peace to us.
Invocation
God, both majestic and merciful, thank you for giving us a focus to our living. We truly know what is of first importance, that which would call forth from us the very best that we can offer. It centers in love for you and in service motivated by that love for the neighbor. Within the bounds of this love and service life finds its meaning. Help us in our worship, we pray, to keep this focus unimpaired - that we be wholehearted in our devotion and single--minded in our doing. In this way would we grow toward that maturity of spirit that you wish and would see in each of us. May it be so - as we hear your Word and follow in your Way. This, in Jesus' name. Amen.
Call to Confession
We tend to forget that living for God and neighbor in the world is of more importance than anything we do here in this church building. For great issues of love and justice far overshadow ritual and church housekeeping. It seems, though, that we continuously get our cues mixed; and instead of playing in a major key, we play in a minor. Thus does Christ's mission suffer, does the neighbor's need go untended, and do we falter in our own growth as children of God. What will it take for us to recognize the true way and to walk in it? Let us come before God in prayer - to acknowledge, to implore, and in gratitude to receive.
Prayer of Confession
God of steadfast love, though we stray from those essentials that mark right living, you depart not from our side, but with great patience await our turning, that we follow again in the footsteps of our Lord. This means bowing before you; this means stooping to wash the feet of both neighbor and stranger. For only in this manner shall we be attuned to your Way and discover that which gives life both meaning and joy. So often do we get wrapped up in the demands of the day that we lose our focus; we see not the purpose that you have for our living. We find ourselves enmeshed in details and lose the larger vision. Help us to see our lives, individually and as family, as nothing apart from you, yet full of meaning and purpose as our actions imitate those of the Christ, as we live his way into the kingdom of God. Forgive us; direct us. We ask this, trusting in your love, which amazingly is always there and includes each and every one who would receive it. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Words of Assurance
Hear the words of the prophet Isaiah, words that announce the everlasting mercy of our God: "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy upon them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Know that these words are meant for you today, indeed for all who repent and believe.
Praise God that blessings for all of us still flow!
Psalter Reading (from Psalm 146)
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God,
Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them;
Who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down; the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over strangers; the Lord upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord!
Offering Sentences
For God and for neighbor. How can we separate one from the other? In truth, we cannot. What we offer in love to our neighbor is our offering to God. Let our offering this day reflect how we define neighbor, and of equal importance, how we respond to that neighbor's need. For so will be our worship of God.
Prayer of Dedication
Our offerings join bread and wine on this holy table, O God. Just as we look upon the bread and the wine as consecrated elements, so would we consecrate the fruits of our labors to a holy purpose, that of making real your love to any and all in need. So use these gifts - that they convey your Way to the hearts of many. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Benediction
May each of us confess as did Jesus when asked which commandment is first of all: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." And may we too add as Jesus did: "And you shall love your neighbor as yourself." For those faithful to these commandments are indeed not far from the kingdom of God.
