Reconciling in Christ 2006
Reconciling in Christ Worship
Service of Affirmation and Inclusivity
Below are some worship resources which you are welcome to use at no charge. Please just use a copyright acknowledgment "Copyright Lisa Frenz. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission."
Order for Worship
Pre-service music
Lighting of the Candles & Prelude
Stand
P: Welcome in the name of God who is Creator, Savior and Breath.
A: Let us pray,
C: O God of all, you call us to a new world, a world of your Word. Not a dead word, but a living Word, a Word which calls to us not from the past but from the present. Bring us beyond our possessions, beyond our self-satisfaction, beyond our faithlessness. Bring us to new and ever-increasing understanding of your will. Amen.
P: (spoken over music) He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange. . .
Wisdom of Solomon 2:13-20
Response Song: All Are Welcome Vs. 5
Text: Marty Haugen, b. 1950
Music: TWO OAKS and refrain, Marty Haugen
Text and music copyright 1994 GIA Publications, Inc.
Let us build a house where all are named,... floor to rafter:
Refrain: All are welcome, ... this place.
(End music. Slight pause.)
A: If someone is not of our group, let us rid our selves of them for if we do not we may have to welcome them.
P: Yet does not Christ socialize with the despised?
C: (spoken over music) [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
The Tax Collector: Luke 19:1-10
Response Song: All Are Welcome - Refrain only
(End music. Slight pause.)
A: If someone is not of our ways, let us rid our selves of them for if we do not we may have to accept them.
P: Yet does not Christ talk with the foreigner?
C: (spoken over music) Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. . . . . Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.
The Ethiopian eunuch: Acts 8:26-31, 35-39
Response Song: All Are Welcome - Refrain only
(End music. Slight pause.)
A: If someone is not of our “truth”, let us rid our selves of them for if we do not we may have to acknowledge their righteousness.
P: Yet does not Christ heal the outsider?
C: (spoken over music) Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
The Canaanite Woman: Matthew 15:22-28
Response Song: All Are Welcome - Refrain only
(End music. Slight pause.)
A: If someone of power calls on God, yet is not one with us, let us avoid them, for if we do not we may have to accept their fitness.
P: Yet does not Christ aid his oppressor?
C: (spoken over music) When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, appealing to him and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, in terrible distress.” And he said to him, “I will come and cure him.” The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” When Jesus heard him, he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “Truly I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
The Centurion: Matthew 8:5-10
Response Song: All Are Welcome - Refrain only
(End music. Slight pause.)
A: If someone serves God in ways unfamiliar to us, let us rid ourselves of them for if we do not we may have to serve in a different manner.
P: Yet does not Christ welcome the enemy?
C: (spoken over music) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
The Samaritan Woman: John 4:9,19-24
Response Song: All Are Welcome - Refrain only
(End music. Slight pause.)
A: If someone worships God in ways unfamiliar to us, let us rid ourselves of them for if we do not we may have to learn new truths through them.
P: Yet does not Christ call them to his side?
C: (spoken over music) In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Magi* from the East came to Jerusalem, asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.”
The Magi *[most likely astrologer-priests of Zoroaster]: Matthew 2:1-2
Response Song: All Are Welcome Vs. 1-4
Text: Marty Haugen, b. 1950
Music: TWO OAKS and refrain, Marty Haugen
Text and music copyright 1994 GIA Publications, Inc.
Let us build a house where love ... Refrain:
Let us build a house where prophets ... faith of Jesus; Refrain
Let us build a house where love is... feast that frees us; Refrain
Let us build a house where hands... and danger: Refrain
Prayer of the Day:
A: Let us pray,
C: Lord God, you call us to work in your vineyard and leave no one standing idle. Set us to our tasks in the work of your kingdom, and help us to order our lives by your wisdom; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sit
First Lesson: Wisdom of Solomon 1:16 - 2:1, 12-22
But the ungodly by their words and deeds summoned death; considering him a friend, they pined away and made a covenant with him, because they are fit to belong to his company. For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves, "Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end, and no one has been known to return from Hades. "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training. He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others, and his ways are strange.
We are considered by him as something base, and he avoids our ways as unclean; he calls the last end of the righteous happy, and boasts that God is his father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God's child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected."
Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls.
L: The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Second Lesson: James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a
Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
L: The Word of the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Stand
P: It was the LORD who made it known to me, and I knew; then you showed me their evil deeds. But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. And I did not know it was against me that they devised schemes, saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered!" But you, O LORD of hosts, who judge righteously, who try the heart and the mind, let me see your retribution upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Jeremiah 11:18-20
A: Hear the call of the Self-Righteous:
C: “We know God. We know what is demanded of us.”
P: Hear the call of the Humble Servants:
C: “We trust God. We seek to discern what is required of us.”
A: Hear the call of the Self-Righteous:
C: “We know God. We understand the wisdom of God.”
P: Hear the call of the Humble Servants:
C: “We trust God. We wait for the revelation of God’s Word”
P: Hear the Word of the Lord from Mark 9:30-37
C: Praise to you, O God.
They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all."
Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."
P: The Word of Life.
C: Thanks be to God.
Gospel song: Behold, Behold
Text & Music: W. Michael Aguilar III, © Shandy Music Industries, PO Box 10402, Portland, OR 97296.
Here is my servant,... nations will rejoice with songs of joy!
Refrain: Behold! ...my beloved, my chosen one, my own.
Here is my servant, baptizer... one whom I have sent! Refrain
Here is my servant, and lover of all...free from darkness those who live in fear! Refrain
Here is my servant, my child, my own... do the work of love! Refrain
P: Give thanks and praise to God who gives us form and life!
C: Let all people serve the Lord!
P: Give thanks and praise to Christ who gives us life and saves us!
C: Let all people serve the Lord!
P: Give thanks and praise to the Holy Spirit who saves us and guides us!
C: Let all people serve the Lord!
P: Let all people indeed serve the Lord! We either include or exclude. We cannot do both.
We say to all baptized sinners that they should have full participation in ministry. To do anything less is to deny God’s grace.
We say that in giving communion to any sinner entitles them to full participation in the community of faith. To do anything less is to deny the fullness of Christ’s Body in the sacrament.
We acknowledge the full power and breadth of God’s love by accepting all of God’s people as equal heirs in the Kingdom. To do anything less is to diminish or even deny God’s love for us and all of creation. Those whom God has “cleansed” in the waters of Baptism, we may not call “unclean” (Acts 10:15). As we offer full and complete communion in the Body of Christ to all who seek it, excluding no one, we are drawn ever closer to Christ, our head.
As we have been welcomed by Christ, let us welcome and greet one another with a word of peace. Peace be with you.
C: And also with you.
(All share a greeting of peace.)
Sit
Music for Meditation
Message
Stand
Theme Song: We Are Called
Text & Music: David Haas, copyright 1988, Admin. GIA Publications, Inc.
Tune Name: WE ARE CALLED
Testimony of Faith:
I believe in God, our Creator, who at the beginning of time made us to be sons and daughters: who, after we separated ourselves from God, still gave us hope in the promise of the Word.
I believe in God, our Savior, Christ Jesus, who is one with the Creator. Who at the beginning of time called us to be sons and daughters; who loved us so much that he limited himself to life as a human; who was born at Bethlehem, lived in Galilee, walked in Palestine and Israel; who through his life and death and resurrection in this world reunited us with God, bring to us, in his person, God’s all encompassing love and peace.
I believe in God, our Counselor, who is one with the Creator and the Christ. Who from the beginning of time gathers us to be sons and daughters; who feeds us with wisdom, strength, faith and love so that we may come back to God restored to the wholeness for which we were created.
Prayer Song: Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Text & Music: Ken Medema, b. 1943 (c) 1973 Hope Publishing Co.
Tune Name: CHILDREN PRAYING
Lord, listen to your children praying... send us grace.
Prayers of the Church
P: Let us pray the prayer Jesus taught us,
C: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.
Prayer Song: Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying
Text & Music: Ken Medema, b. 1943 (c) 1973 Hope Publishing Co.
Tune Name: CHILDREN PRAYING
Sit
Offering:
Stand
Offering Prayer:
A: Let us pray,
C: O God, of love and grace, we humbly bring you all that we are and have. For being humble is not a passive thing, but an active thing. Putting others first means more than caring. It means doing. We must act. We must stand up. We must risk ourselves. We must risk our status, our wealth, our lives. This we offer to you, O God, for you first gave us everything. Amen.
Offering Song: Come and See
Text & Music: Lenny LeBlanc (c)1989 Doulos
Tune Name: COME AND SEE (LeBlanc)
Come and see the glory ...down before him.
Come and give thanks... down before him.
For he is Lord above ... Alleluia, Lord.
P: You know that you were ransomed from the useless way of life
not with perishable things,
silver and gold,
But with the costly blood of Christ—
as a lamb without blot or blemish.
Christ having been known before the foundation of the world
was made visible at the end of time for your sake,
through him the faithful are in God
Who raised him from the dead and gave him glory,
So that your faith and hope are in God.
1 Peter 1:18-21
P: For I received from the Lord
that which I also handed down to you—
that the Lord Jesus
in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
and after giving thanks, He broke it and said,
“This is My body, which is for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.”
In the same way also He took the cup after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant which is in My blood;
do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.”
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
I Corinthians 11:23-26
Sit
Distribution of Holy Communion
Stand
Dismissal from Communion:
P: Now may the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ dance through your blood and whisper in every fiber of your being calling you to ministry and nourishing you in service to God, the world and one another.
C: Amen.
Post-Communion Song: Go, Go, My Chosen One
Text & Music: W. Michael Aguilar III, © 2000 Shandy Music Industries, PO Box 10402, Portland, OR 97296.
Do you see the faces of those whose lives are lost?.... I call you in my name!
Refrain: Go! Go my chosen one... give my love to all;... my chosen one.
Do you hear the voices, the cries of the oppressed?... call you in my name! Refrain
Do you feel the anger, the pains of misery?... send you in my name! Refrain
Prayer:
A: Lord God, Word of Life, we give you thanks and praise for the wonders of all creation. Bless us with the willingness to reach out beyond our comfort zones. Open us to the infinite ways we and others are created and called to your service. Enrich us with your wisdom of love and acceptance, that we may be active participants in your new creation.
C: Amen.
Blessing: The Lord Bless You (Ronald E. Nitz)
Announcements
Sending Song: A Place in the Choir
Text & Music: Bill Staines, copyright 1978 Mineral River Music (BMI)
Refrain: All God's critters got a place in the choir...
Listen to the bass...
The dogs and the cats...
Listen to the top...
Singing in the nightime...
It's a simple song of living....
A: Go in peace. Serve the Lord.
C: Thanks be to God.
Postlude