Welcome
Below you will find prayers, songs, readings, and a message to help you experience worship. You can light a candle to remind you of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Whether you are alone or with others, we hope that you can feel each other’s presence, and the presence of God, as we find creative ways to worship together, even though we are not in the same building. One good thing about virtual worship is that if you really like a song, you can listen to it again! Do what you need to do to worship God wherever you are.
Call to Worship
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Our call to worship is from Micah 6:8.
God has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Let’s pray: It is good to be together, God, on these screens, with these people, together listening for your voice, united by your Spirit. In this time of worship
tell us about your kingdom of kindness so that we can seek it. Show us your justice.
We want to walk with you, humbly, closely, daily.
Opening Song
I Offer My Life
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All that I am all that I have I lay them down before You O Lord All my regrets all my acclaim The joy and the pain I’m making them Yours.
Lord I offer my life to You Everything I’ve been through Use it for Your glory Lord I offer my days to You, Lifting my praise to You As a pleasing sacrifice Lord I offer You my life.
Things in the past things yet unseen Wishes and dreams That are yet to come true All of my hopes all of my plans My heart and my hands Are lifted to You.
What can we give That You have not given And what do we have That is not already Yours All we possess are These lives we’re living And that’s what We give to You Lord.
Prayer of the Day
Let us pray. Teach us, good Lord God, to serve you as you deserve, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward, except that of knowing that we do your will, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
Reading
Romans 6:1b-11
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1bShould we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? 2By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? 3Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5For if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. 7For whoever has died is freed from sin. 8But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Children’s Moment
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Gospel and Message
Matthew 10:24-39
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[Jesus said:] 24“A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; 25it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of the master’s household!”
26“So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 27What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. 28Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. 29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. 30And even the hairs of your head are all counted. 31So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
32“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; 33but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
34Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35For I have come to set a son against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and in-laws against one another;
36and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
Hymn of the Day
The Summons
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“Will you come and follow me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same? Will you let my love be shown, will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?
“Will you leave yourself behind if I but call your name? Will you care for cruel and kind and never be the same? Will you risk the hostile stare, should your life attract or scare? Will you let me answer pray’r in you and you in me?
“Will you let the blinded see if I but call your name? Will you set the pris’ners free and never be the same? Will you kiss the leper clean, and do such as this unseen, and admit to what I mean in you and you in me?
“Will you love the you you hide if I but call your name? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same? Will you use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around, through my sight and touch and sound in you and you in me?”
Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call my name. Let me turn and follow you and never be the same. In your company I’ll go where your love and footsteps show. Thus I’ll move and live and grow in you and you in me.
Apostles’ Creed
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With the whole church, let us confess our faith.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
Prayers
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Called into unity with one another and the whole creation, we pray for the church, our nation, and for all who are in need.
O God, Creator in heaven, hold your church in your loving arms. Protect believers who face persecution for your sake. Bless the work of evangelists and teachers. Strengthen our pastors, deacons, and church councils for their ministry during these troubling times. Lord, hear our prayer.
O God our ruler, inspire our president, our governors and our legislators to work towards justice for all. Lead us to ways of life that are free from racial and ethnic prejudice. Strengthen the world’s democracies, and sustain those who are working to secure free and safe elections. Give a home to refugees. Form our military and our police to maintain peace and to inhibit violence. Lord, hear our prayer.
O God our physician, bring healing to all who are sick and suffering. Preserve the world from more waves of the coronavirus, and guide researchers who are seeking a vaccine. Protect those whose jobs expose them to contagion. Support our health care workers. Lord, hear our prayer.
O God our peacemaker, inhabit each household in the land with your powerful peace. Train us to live together in harmony, especially when quarantined together. Nourish relationships, and sustain extended families. Protect children from harm of every kind. Lord, hear our prayer.
O God our beginning and our end, we bless you for all in faith who have lived and died in you. Remind us of their sacrifices, and at the end bring us with them in your household of joy. Lord, hear our prayer.
Receive these prayers, O God, and those too deep for words; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer
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Gathered into one by the Holy Spirit, let us pray as Jesus taught us.
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 forever. Amen.
Franciscan Sending
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Read this out loud. If you are with other people, take turns reading the parts out loud.
May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.
May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.
May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
And the Blessing of God, who Creates, Redeems, and Sanctifies, be upon you and all you love and pray for this day, and forevermore. Amen.
Sending Song
Bring Forth the Kingdom
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You are salt for the earth, O people: Salt for the Kingdom of God! Share the flavour of life, O people: Life in the Kingdom of God!
Bring forth the Kingdom of mercy, Bring forth the Kingdom of peace; Bring forth the Kingdom of justice, Bring forth the City of God!
You are a light on the hill, O people: Light for the City of God! Shine so holy and bright, O people: Shine for the Kingdom of God!
Bring forth the Kingdom of mercy, Bring forth the Kingdom of peace; Bring forth the Kingdom of justice, Bring forth the City of God!
You are a seed of the Word, O people: Bring forth the Kingdom of God! Seeds of mercy and seeds of justice, Grow in the Kingdom of God!
Bring forth the Kingdom of mercy, Bring forth the Kingdom of peace; Bring forth the Kingdom of justice, Bring forth the City of God!
We are a blest and a pilgrim people: Bound for the Kingdom of God! Love our journey and love our homeland: Love is the Kingdom of God!
Bring forth the Kingdom of mercy, Bring forth the Kingdom of peace; Bring forth the Kingdom of justice, Bring forth the City of God!
Blessing
Go forth into the world to serve God with gladness; be of good courage; hold fast to that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honor all people; love and serve God, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God.
Dismissal
Go in peace. Christ is with you. Thanks be to God.
Worship Assistants:
Music: Lori, Ian
Message: Pastor Kristin
Readers: Joan, Maddy Jo, Fred, Sheri, AJ
Children’s Moment: Nate
From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2005 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #22432. New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.
All rights reserved. Hymns reprinted with permission. CCLI#116214