Trinity Year C
Pentecost 2C
Pentecost 3C
Pentecost 4C
Pentecost 5C
Pentecost 6C
Pentecost 7C
Pentecost 8C
Pentecost 9C
Pentecost 10C
Pentecost 11C
Pentecost 12C
Pentecost 13C
Pentecost 14C
Pentecost 15C
Pentecost 16C
Pentecost 17C
Pentecost 18C
Pentecost 19C
Pentecost 20C
Pentecost 21C
Pentecost 22C
Pentecost 23C
Pentecost 24C
Pentecost 25C
Reign of Christ Year C
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Pentecost 14C LECTIONARY GENERATED LITURGY Pentecost 14 C - (August 28 - September 3) Jeremiah 2: 4-13; Psalm 81:1,10-16; Hebrews 13:1-8,15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14 Rec. text- NRSV Hymns are from the Australian Hymn Book (AHB) or Together in Song (TIS) unless otherwise indicated. Worship leader - normal type; 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 14C: Two plastic cups, a jug of water and a bowl; All Together Whatever, Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, South Australia 5000, 2001; Be Our Freedom,Lord. Terry.C.Falla, Openbook Publishers, Adelaide, S. Australia 5000, 1994 This is Refugee and Migrant Sunday Refugee and Migrant Sunday (RMS) is a celebration of the contribution refugees have made to Australia that is held every year in thousands of churches around Australia. Each year, the NCCA produces an Education Kit that contains education sheets and liturgical and parish resources to help celebrate the day and take further action. Material is available from the site listed below. http://www.ncca.org.au/cws/rdp/refugee_and_migrant_sunday CALL TO WORSHIP: Based on Psalm 81:1,10-16 Sing aloud to God our strength; who delivered the people from slavery in Egypt. People who turned away and followed the desires of their own hearts. But God’s yearning to nourish them - to feed them with the finest of wheat, and the sweetest of honey - never changed. We praise God who is the same yesterday, today and forever. TIS 110/AHB 27: “Sing praise to God who reigns above” TIS 111/AHB 28: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” TIS 227/AHB 151: “When morning gilds the skies” TIS 127/AHB 86: “Holy God, we praise your name” TIS 144/AHB 76: “Lord, you have been our dwelling-place” PRAYER OF PRAISE AND ADORATION Holy God, we praise you as the one who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Your yearning to shower blessings on your people has not changed. As you delivered the people of old from slavery in Egypt, so you deliver us from whatever enslaves us through the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ. He endured death so that he could nourish us with the sweetest gift of all - his life Accept our praise and adoration, we pray, for we offer them in Jesus’ name and through the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen OLD TESTAMENT: Jeremiah 2: 4-13. This may be easier for people to ‘hear’ if it is presented as a dramatic reading . I have paraphrased the reading. You will need a NARRATOR to introduce the reading, and someone to read the part of GOD as dramatically as possible. NARRATOR: Hear the word of the LORD, to the house of Jacob, and all the families of Israel. GOD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they ignored me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves? I did not hear them asking, “Where is the LORD who freed us from being slaves in Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, through deserts and rocky valleys, so dry and dark that no one ever goes or lives there?” I brought you into this plentiful l and to eat its fruits and all its other good things. But when you entered you polluted my land, and corrupted my name. The priests did not even ask, “Where is the LORD?” The lawyers did not even know me; the rulers disobeyed me; the prophets prophesied by other gods, and went after things that do not profit. Therefore once more I accuse you, and I accuse your children’s children. Look carefully at the countries round about - see if they have changed their gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out wells for themselves, cracked wells that can hold no water. WORD WITH THE CHILDREN/YOUNG PEOPLE Props needed - two plastic tumblers - make a hole in the bottom of one - and a jug of water and a bowl. Ask the young folk to imagine that they are on a long walk on a really hot day They get thirstier and thirstier but they have a cup in their backpack and they know that there is a drinking fountain with a tap further along the walking track. They see the tap in the distance and shrugging their backpack off they get the cup out. The thought of the refreshing water gives them the strength to run all the way to where the tap is. Imagine their disappointment when this happens - Pour water into the tumbler with the hole in it. How disappointed would they be? Wait for responses. In the reading we just heard from the Old Testament the people have abandoned God who can give them all the refreshment they need to live - this refreshment is compared to a fountain of living water. We know that water - fill good tumbler - not only satisfies our thirst, it keeps our bodies working as they should. We know that God never abandons us and God is the source of refreshment that never runs out. Jesus told the woman at the well that everyone who drinks of ordinary water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that he gives them will never be thirsty. He was talking about more than water, he was talking about his love and his life supplying all we need to live fulfilling lives. When we forget about loving Jesus and following his way, it’s as though we’re letting his love trickle out of our lives just like the water in the cracked cup. The good news is that the closer our lives are linked to Jesus the less likely that is to happen. ALL TOGETHER WHATEVER 494: For you, deep stillness” TIS 412/AHB324: “God sends us his Spirit to befriend and help us” TIS 494: “In water we grow” TIS 188 : “ Where wide sky rolls down and touches red sand” PRAYER OF CONFESSION Hospitable God, you welcome us as people beloved by you and this privilege begs a like response from us. When we welcome you in our lives we are also welcoming all people as people beloved by you. We confess that there are times when we fail miserably. We know that for many people this world is indeed an inhospitable place because they are ‘estranged from their culture and country, their neighbours, friends and families’1 Forgive us when we keep people at arms length and regard them with suspicion if we believe that they are different in any way from us. We give thanks that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever as is his love for us and he empowers us to relate to one another with that same love - mutual love. Open the door of our hearts so that we welcome strangers and share what we have, for we know that such things are pleasing to you, O God. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever (Hebrews 13: 8) and he came into this world to save sinners. (1Timothy 1:15) We are therefore assured that in Jesus our sins are forgiven. Thanks be to God! EPISTLE: Hebrews 13: 1-8, 15-16 GOSPEL: Luke 14: 1, 7-14 SERMON TIS 565 “Author of faith, eternal word” TIS 376/AHB 299: “ I know that my Redeemer lives” TIS 738: “My Jesus, my Saviour, Lord, there is none like you” TIS 590/AHB 165: “What a friend we have in Jesus” PRAYERS FOR OTHERS “When in prison you came to my cell” Page 183f. in Be our Freedom, Lord. OFFERING OFFERTORY PRAYER Eternal God, you welcome us as people beloved by you and you shower us with blessings - the greatest of these being Jesus, your Son, our Lord. We share what we have with you, by offering these gifts and the service of our lives as signs of our thanksgiving and our desire to follow Jesus - and to share his love with all whom we meet. This we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen ALL TOGETHER WHATEVER 474: “Bread of angels” TIS 393: “Christ is alive, with joy we sing” TIS 516/AHB 438: “Here, gracious Lord, we see you face to face” INVITATION This is the joyful feast of the Lord. People come from east and west, from north and south, and eat at the table of the Lord. (based on Luke 13:29) GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise We praise you O God for establishing a hospitable place- a fruitful garden where people you loved into being were invited to live in harmony with you. When they turned away from you and closed their ears to your words, you did not abandon them. Through the prophets you reminded them of your past deeds, when, liberating them from slavery, you led them to freedom through the wilderness, simply because they were chosen and beloved by you. You revealed how unchanging your love is by entering our history in the person of Jesus Christ, who touches our lives with healing and wholeness and a love, which like yours, is unending and unconditional. And so, with all the company of heaven and earth we rejoice before you and 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. At this table we bear witness to the love which has been poured into our hearts and lives. We remember when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet and sat down at a table to share the meal with them. At that meal - 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 he took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant 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. We remember and we give thanks for such outpouring of love . Pour out your Holy Spirit upon us, O God, and upon these gifts of bread and wine, that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ - his life in us. Renewed by his life and recreated in his image, we set our minds on fulfilling your purpose for us and this world of which we are a part. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen THE LORD’S PRAYER BREAKING OF THE BREAD LAMB OF GOD DISTRIBUTION PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Holy God, we give you thanks that we have been fed at this banquet and renewed by Christ’s life in us, and we go now to share that life with others. Send us forth equipped with the power of your Spirit to follow Jesus, and to spread the message of his love to all whom we meet. In his name we pray. Amen TIS 254: “O changeless Christ, for ever new TIS 596/AHB515: “Fill my whole life, O Lord my God” TIS 595/AHB 514: “O Jesus, I have promised to serve you to the end” ALL TOGETHER WHATEVER 459: “God. Version 1.0 BENEDICTION Go into this week nourished by the refreshing love of God filled with the humble love of Jesus Christ empowered by the active love of the Holy Spirit. 1 Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out (London: William Collins & Co Ltd, 1976), p.63. |