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Pentecost 22B LECTIONARY GENERATED LITURGY Twenty Second Sunday after Pentecost Year B Ruth 1: 1-18; Psalm 146; Hebrews 9:11-14; Mark 12:28-34 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 22B: A photograph of a grandmother or great grandmother or a family tree; Scripture in Song , CMC Australasia, Unit 9/147 Marshalltown Road, Grovedale, Victoria 3216; ALL TOGETHER WHATEVER, Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, 2001. CALL TO WORSHIP: Based on Psalm 146 verses 1, 5-10 NRSV Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! I will sing praises to God all my life long. Happy are those whose help is in God, creator of heaven and earth, who is forever faithful; seeking justice for the oppressed and for the hungry; setting prisoners free and opening the eyes of the blind; lifting up those who are bowed down and loving the righteous. The Lord protects strangers and upholds the orphan and widow; but the way of the wicked is brought to ruin. The Lord our God will reign forever, for all generations. Praise the Lord! TIS 90/AHB 44: “I’ll praise my maker while I’ve breath” In AHB 44 invite people to replace ‘man’ in verse 2 with ‘one’ TIS 110/AHB 27: “Sing praise to God who reigns above” TIS 596/AHB 515: “Fill my whole life, O Lord my God ..” PRAYER OF PRAISE AND ADORATION We praise you, O God, for being not only the God of history but the God of our story. You have gathered us here today to remind us that although you are the one to whom all power belongs, yet you care for the weak and powerless. You care for us. We praise you for joining your story to ours in such a special way through Jesus, our Lord. He proved his great love for you and for each person in the way he lived - releasing what was captive, lifting up the burdened, empowering the powerless. God, source of lovingkindness and strength, we worship you. Jesus, foundation of our faith, we worship you. Holy Spirit, ground of our very being, we worship you. Amen OLD TESTAMENT : Ruth 1: 1-18 SUGGESTION FOR CHILDREN’S TALK : This suggestion based on Ruth may be too long and involved so there is a much briefer one based on the gospel at the conclusion of this one. Bring along a photograph of your grandmother or (even better) great grandmother - or invite someone from the congregation to do so and talk about the importance - influence - of this person in relation to succeeding family members; or invite someone (or do it yourself) to talk about their family tree- why it is interesting to find out who their ancestors were, what they did, where they lived etc. Then say that there is an interesting family tree in Matthew chapter 1 which reads as follows: “An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.” NRSV So the Ruth of our Old Testament lesson appears to be the great, great, great, and a whole lot more greats - great grandmother of Jesus. And it is interesting that what Ruth did by staying with her mother-in-law, Naomi, is echoed in some of Jesus’ words in the gospel today “Love your neighbour” Ruth made a huge sacrifice by deciding to go with Naomi rather than staying in her own country of Moab, because in these days, two women like Naomi and Ruth who had lost their husbands would have to depend on help from other people as there were no social benefits . It would have been especially hard for Naomi as an older woman, so Ruth made the decision to leave her homeland and go with Naomi to help her survive back in Bethlehem, the town Naomi had come from. Ruth had a choice to make - to let Naomi go back to Bethlehem on her own, or to go with her into a possibly very difficult future. Ruth chose to go with Naomi. We are often faced with difficult choices also - choices that may be between doing something for another person or doing something for ourselves. When Jesus tells us to love God and to love our neighbour that means making choices that will be good for the other person, and often, to our surprise, we find out that its been good for us as well. Ruth demonstrated her love for Naomi when she said:”Where you go, I will go where you stay, I will stay; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.” The special meal we share today is about Jesus’ choice to love us. It reminds us that he gave us the gift of his life so that where we go, Jesus goes with us, where we stay, Jesus stays with us . His God, is our God and his people are our people - that means our neighbours whom we are to love as he did . The other idea - draw a cross on a large sheet of cardboard and write ‘GOD’ in the centre of the vertical arm : ‘G’ on top, then ‘O’ underneath and then ‘D’. The ‘O’ should be where the arms of the cross meet. In the centre of the horizontal arm write ‘PEOPLE’ with the ‘O’ common to the ‘O’ of ‘GOD’. G P E O P L E D Before showing this, tell how Jesus said that there are two commandments we are to keep and the first is that we are to love God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength and the second is that we are to love our neighbour as ourself. These two commandments are linked to each other like this - show the cross - as Jesus said, when we love God, we love one another - when God is at the centre of our lives we cannot help loving and caring for other people. Ask who did that perfectly - Jesus. His death on the cross shows us that nothing could kill that love and his love lives on in us and strengthens us to be as kind and loving as him. Finish with same paragraph as final paragraph of previous suggested story above. TIS 629/AHB 558: “When I needed a neighbour, were you there?”; TIS 170: “Thank you, thank you, Lord” TIS 675/SCRIPTURE IN SONG 580: “Lord, the light of your love is shining ALL TOGETHER WHATEVER 507: “ Where you tread” PRAYER OF CONFESSION - Jesus said that the first commandment was this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart all your soul, all your mind and all your strength, and the second commandment is this “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these” We hear what you are saying to us, Lord, but it is not easy in today’s society. Worshipping position and status, power and wealth seem to be the first commandments of life these days, and when we are so busy achieving these it doesn’t leave much time to care for, let alone love, our neighbour. Help us to re-order our priorities, Lord, so that they are more in tune with yours. A short silence to reflect on these words Jesus: Saviour and Lord, we confess that there are times when the pattern of our daily lives is modelled on other than worshipping God and caring for neighbour. All we seem to be creating is a feel-good, self-serving approach to life rather than your costly, self-emptying, servanthood lifestyle; Lord, reconnect us to the desire to live out your commandments of love. A short silence to reflect on these words Jesus: Redeemer and Friend, your acts of caring and love, mercy and justice delivered people from lives dominated by injustice and corruption. We confess that when ‘economic rationalism’ rules the lives of people today, competition replaces compassion, ruthlessness replaces forgiveness, and wounding replaces healing. Yet, in the midst of all this you command us not only to love God wholeheartedly, and to love our neighbour likewise, you command us also to love one another as you love us. Lord, stir us into action so that the signs of your powerful love are visible in and through us. A short silence to reflect on these words TIS 699/AHB 571: “A new commandment” sung while seated as a conclusion of the prayer In AHB 571 -instead of singing ‘all men’ - hold ‘all’ for two notes. ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS: Jesus truly demonstrated his love for all as he rescued us from lives dominated by evil and sin by his acts of mercy and justice, his suffering and death. Hear then the good news that in and through Jesus Christ we are forgiven. Thanks be to God! EPISTLE: Hebrews 9:11-14 GOSPEL: Mark 12: 28-34 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 677: “Christ’s is the world in which we move” TIS 685: “Lord, I come to you; let my heart be changed” SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYERS FOR OTHERS Pray for the discernment to identify and respond to the needs of people in the community whose lives are dominated by the unjust practices of others. Pray that the pursuit of power which renders people powerless may be replaced by the desire for a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources. Pray for those who suffer and have specific needs in the congregation, parish, local community, and wider afield. In the light of the gospel reading - pray for a renewed understanding of what it means to worship God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength and to love our neighbours ourselves. OFFERING OFFERTORY PRAYER This offering of money and the service of our lives, express our love for you, O God. A love offered with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength. May these gifts be used to reveal that love in all we do and say. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen TIS 519/AHB 440 : “And now, O Father, mindful of the love”; TIS 528/ SA 84: “The Son of God proclaim” TIS 503: “ Robe yourself, my soul, in gladness” Verses 1,3,4,6 TIS 239/ AHB 185: “ Jesus the Lord said, ‘I am the bread’ verses 1,3 and 5 In AHB 185 invite people to replace ‘mankind’ in v.1 with ‘the world’ INVITATION: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. (Matt.5: 6) GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift not only our hearts, but our souls, our minds and our strength to God. Let us give thanks to God. It is right to give God our thanks and praise. It is right that we give you our thanks and praise, O God, creator of heaven and earth. You brought our world into being and formed man and woman in your image, breathing into them the breath of life. You blessed them with descendants as numerous as the stars. When they became slaves in Egypt, you rescued them and gave them laws calling them to serve you and one another with love and respect. When they failed to keep their covenant promises you spoke through the prophets and the call to love and serve you in word and deed resounded again throughout the land. When their words went unheeded, you broke into our history in the person of Jesus Christ who showed that serving you meant serving others with love and with compassion Through his death and resurrection we have been empowered to serve as he served and to love as he loved, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And so, with all the company of heaven and earth we praise your holy name saying: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Holy are you O God, and blessed is your Son, Jesus Christ who revealed the true meaning of servanthood, when he washed his disciples’ feet before sitting down at a table to share the meal with them. On that night - the night of his betrayal - he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for everyone. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, O God, and upon these gifts of bread and wine, that they may be for us the life of Christ and that we may make that life visible through the way we love and serve you and one another. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen THE LORD’S PRAYER BREAD-BREAKING PRAYER The bread we break and the cup we now take are a sharing in the life of Christ. The gifts of God for the people of God. LAMB OF GOD DISTRIBUTION PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Gracious God, we give you thanks for satisfying our hungry hearts with this holy meal shared in the Spirit with Jesus, your Son, our Lord. Strengthened and refreshed, we go from here to continue his work in the world through our faithful witness and loving service. This we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen TIS 626/ AHB 557: “Lord of creation, to you be all praise!” In AHB 557 invite people to replace’man’s’ in v.3 with ‘our’ TIS 545: “Shout for joy! The Lord has let us feast” ; TIS 541: “Hallelujah! We sing your praises...” BENEDICTION: Go into this week, secure in the endless protection of God nourished by the selfless love of Jesus Christ inspired by the renewing breath of the Holy Spirit THREEFOLD AMEN |