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LECTIONARY GENERATED LITURGY
                     Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year B
     Job 1:1; 2:1-10; Psalm 26; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16. Rec. text -NRSV.
             Hymns are from the Australian Hymn Book (AHB) or Together in Song (TIS)
                            unless otherwise indicated.
               Worship Leader - normal type. Congregational responses - bold type
          Permission is granted to churches to use this material in services of worship.
    This liturgy remains the property of Moira B Laidlaw

Additional resources for Pentecost 18B: A camera with flash, a photograph; Scripture in Song , CMC Australasia, Unit 9/147 Marshalltown Road, Grovedale, Victoria 3216; Jesus our Future, Bruce D Prewer, Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, South Australia, 1998

CALL TO WORSHIP: Based on Hebrews 1:1-3 NRSV
Long ago God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many and various ways, but now God has spoken a new and living word to us in Jesus Christ... He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word.
Let us worship God.

TIS 113/AHB 33: “ Now to the Lord a noble song”
TIS 157/AHB 103: “O Lord of every shining constellation” In AHB 103, invite people to replace “brain of man” in verse 2 with “human brain” and “sons” in verse 5 with “heirs”
TIS 158/AHB 92: “God has spoken by his prophets” In AHB 92, invite people to replace the last line in verse 2 with “God, revealed as Son of man” and in verse 3 to replace the second line with “speaking to our hearts again”

PRAYER OF PRAISE AND ADORATION
We praise you, O God, for breaking through to us in the person of Jesus, your Son, our Lord. When the words of the prophets went unheard and when their actions were ignored, you spoke the creative word once more. Bringing order out of chaos again - this time not to bring a world into being, but to bring your very being into the world. The essence of your love taking on our flesh.
In the midst of this congregation, we praise you.
With our lives, we worship you.
Gracious God, Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer,
to you be all glory and honour, now and forever. Amen

SCRIPTURE IN SONG 159: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts”

EPISTLE: Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

SUGGESTION FOR CHILDREN’S TALK : Take along a large photograph of yourself or a member of your family and, if possible, take a camera - and take a photo, or have someone take a photograph with a flash - of the congregation, or of the children/young folk if they come and sit around up front. Then tell the following little story which I read about 20 years ago, and have used a number of times.
Three years old Jimmy was visiting his grandparents and he was playing in the garden just outside the back door whilst his grandmother was making tea. It was getting pretty dark and stormy and she was just going to call Jimmy indoors when there was a flash of lightning. Thinking that Jimmy would be afraid, she rushed to the back door just as he came running in, filled with excitement - “Guess what, Gran,” he shouted “God just took my photo!” Well, we know that lightning is not God taking photos of Jimmy or anyone else, but with the number of photos taken especially of small children, it’s not surprising that Jimmy thought the way he did. Photographs are a good (sometimes) record of what a person looks like. Hold up the photo of
yourself - here’s a photo of me - that’s not a bad likeness is it. But, when we think about it, just as God can’t take photos of us, we can’t take photos of God either, can we? ( You might get some interesting answers here!) So, how do we know what God looks like? In the reading we heard earlier from the bible, we heard that Jesus is the exact imprint (NRSV) of God’s very being. So, that’s almost as good as a photo, isn’t it. While we haven’t any photos of Jesus either, we have enough words written about him to know what he was like. A loving, caring, person who wants to put his imprint on us. As we learn more about his love and then live with his actual love in us, we realise we don’t need a picture of Jesus to know what he is like, because we’ll know- right here - in our hearts.

TIS 430/AHB 337: “Your words to me are life and health”
TIS 165/AHB 110: “Praise our God, the great creator”
TIS 164/AHB 105: “The great love of God is revealed in the Son”

PRAYER OF CONFESSION -
We read in Hebrews that God, “for whom and through whom all things exist”, made the pioneer of our salvation “perfect through suffering.”
Lord Jesus Christ, pioneer of our salvation, the lengths that you were prepared to go to defeat evil and to show us the depth of your love are almost too much for us to grasp. You surrendered any advantage you could have had over us in order to become as we are, and to suffer and even die for our sake.
For our sake.
So that we could live abundantly and joyfully, with your powerful life in us.
But we confess that we carry a multitude of unhealed wounds around with us, and within us.
So much of our personal landscapes are filled with the chronic pain of broken relationships and unfulfilled expectations; with emotional, spiritual and physical suffering.
Forgive us, Lord, for trying to meet our needs solely out of our own power.
Embrace our weaknesses with your strength,
our brokenness with your wholeness,
our suffering with your healing,
our fears with your peace.
Remind us that when we bring our weariness and heavy burdens to you,
you will give us rest.
Lord Jesus Christ, pioneer of our salvation, receive these our prayers, for we offer them in your name. Amen

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS:
Through his suffering and death, Jesus rescued us from lives dominated by evil and sin. He is the source of our salvation. Hear then the good news that in and through Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Thanks be to God!

OLD TESTAMENT: Job 1:1; 2:1-10
GOSPEL: Mark 10:2-16

SERMON

TIS 641/AHB 401: “This is my will, my one command” In AHB 401,the second verse can be made more inclusive by changing the 2nd, 3rd and 4th lines to: “can people have, than that they die, to save their friends”
TIS 444/AHB 371:” Dear Shepherd of your people, hear”
TIS 581/AHB 495: “Happy the home that welcomes you, Lord Jesus”

SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION
“Delight” page 46, “Healer of Hurts” page 56 in Jesus our Future;
Pray for those who suffer and have specific needs in the congregation, parish, local community, and wider afield. Perhaps in the light of the gospel reading - pray for those who have experienced the pain and disruption of separation and divorce in their lives...

THE LORD’S PRAYER

OFFERING

OFFERTORY PRAYER
Receive and bless these gifts, O God, for we offer them in response to the great gift of your Word to us - Jesus, our Saviour and Lord. May our lives reflect your glory and bear the imprint of your love as we reach out to others in Jesus’ name. Amen

TIS 596/AHB515: “Fill my whole life, O Lord my God”
TIS 675/SCRIPTURE IN SONG 580: “Lord, the light of your love is shining”
TIS 671: “Made in God’s likeness”

BENEDICTION:
Go into this week,
with the love of God inscribed upon your heart,
the life of Jesus Christ imprinted within your being,
and the energy of the Holy Spirit giving you life.

THREEFOLD AMEN