Readings
Proverbs 31: 10-31
A good wife is to be valued because she cares for her family and her servants, she provides for her household, she brings honour to her husband.
This woman is an industrious resourceful household manager. She produces and sells textiles, brings in income for the family, oversees the planting of vineyards and uses her own money to set them up. She has servants she oversees, she gives to the poor, her household is a small business that provides for her family, and her husband is praised for it. She works both inside and outside of her home.
Psalm 1
Righteous people are blessed because they do not follow the ways of the wicked, but love God’s instruction. They are like trees planted by streams, bearing fruit and always succeeding. The wicked, however, are destroyed.
James 3:13 – 4:3, 7-8a
Wise followers of Christ should live a humble life. Jealousy and selfish ambition are not wise, but cause evil, conflict, murder and struggle. Therefore God’s people should resist evil, submit to God, draw near to God, and seek to be cleansed.
Mark 9: 30-37
Jesus predicts his death and resurrection, and then challenges the disciples for arguing about which of them is greatest. Then he teaches them that the greatest in God’s Reign must be the slave of all, and that whoever welcomes a child, welcomes Jesus, and the One who sent him.
(Bible reading summaries by John van de Laar, Sacredise)
Readings (landscape A4 folded format for printing) COCU57B.Readings
Resources
Textweek
Singing from the Lectionary
Church of Scotland Starters for Sunday
United Church of Christ resource related to Gospel reading: To change the world, welcome the children. To Change the World
“The test of the morality of a society is what it does for it’s children.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Components of worship (links to resources on this website)
Note: scroll down for a collation of other resources related to this week’s RCL readings
Acknowledgement of Land
Gathering
Prayer of thanksgiving
Prayer of confession/prayers of who we are
Words of Assurance
Prayer for Illumination
Readings
Prayers for others
Lord’s Prayer
Prayer of Dedication
Benediction and sending out
(Communion)
(Communion Hymns)
Psalm 1 (a contemporary reflection)
Joy is yours, my friend,
when you dismiss sinister advice,
when you choose not to walk
the path of miscreants,
not to sit with those who mock.
Joy is yours, my friend,
taking delight in the law of Love,
meditating day and night
with Holy One, with Love.
You will be like trees beside streams
that run deep; you will grow healthy fruit,
sprout rich green leaves.
Joy, deep joy, will be yours.
The miscreants will not know joy,
but will fly like chaff, useless,
carried away on the wind.
They have no roots, they cannot stand.
But you – Holy One watches over you,
and while miscreants perish,
you will know joy!
(Source: Rev Sarah Agnew, PraytheStory)
Call to Worship
Our world offers many wide avenues
and beautiful boulevards to walk;
Our God invites us to walk the road
of service and sacrifice.
Our society suggests we put down our roots
in the shallow soil of pleasure and greed.
Our God seeks to plant us on the banks of hope,
watered by the rivers of joy and grace.
Our culture promotes achievement, success,
climbing to the top, ringing the bell.
Our God tells us if we want to be first
we need to go to the end of the line.
(Source: Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies)
A prayer to lead into or out of Prayers for Others
O dear Love,
Today, there is so much to pray about,
We grieve,
we hope,
we offer gratitude,
we fear,
we tremble at your feet,
we beg for Your ear.
We ask for your Spirit
to soothe all of the suffering
and to challenge all of the complacent.
Move into our lives,
generate our courage
to follow You,
dearest
Heartbeat of the World. Amen.
(Source: RevGalBlogPals)
Prayer of Dedication/Offering
Rather than boast of all that we have and are, may we humble ourselves, as we offer our lives, our hearts, and our gifts, in putting others first, that they might discover the wonders of the kingdom of grace and hope. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
(Source: Thom Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies)
Sending out
“We leave this watered place to work on rocky ground,
Yet even there the streams of grace sustain our daily round.
Lord, through our lives may others hear your living waters drawing near.”
(Source: v.4, The hidden stream that feeds, Thomas Troeger)
May what I do flow from me like a river
no forcing and no holding back
the way it is with children
Then in these swelling and ebbing currents,
these deepening tides moving out, returning,
I will sing to you as no one ever has,
streaming through widening channels
into the open sea.
(Source: Rainer Maria Rilke, Book of Hours/ Das Stunden-Buch)
MUSIC
Give thanks for life (could be used in relation to the Proverbs reading)
Give thanks for life, the measure of our days,
Mortal, we pass through beauty that decays,
Yet sing to God our hope, our love, our praise,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Give thanks for those who made their life a light
Caught from the Christ-flame, bursting through the night,
Who touched the earth, who burned for what is right,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
And for our own, our living and our dead,
Thanks for the love by which our life is fed,
Love not changed by time or death or dread,
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Give thanks for hope, that like the wheat, the grain
Lying in darkness does its life retain,
In resurrection to grow green again.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
(Words: Shirley Erena Murray; tune: SINE NOMINE)
A touching place
Tune: Dream Angus (Scottish Traditional)
Christ’s is the world in which we move;
Christ’s are the folk we’re summoned to love;
Christ’s is the voice which calls us to care,
and Christ is the one who meets us here.
To the lost Christ shows his face,
to the unloved he gives his embrace,
to those who cry in pain or disgrace
Christ makes, with his friends, a touching place.
Feel for the people we must avoid –
strange or bereaved or never employed.
Feel for the women and feel for the men
who fear that their living is all in vain.
To the lost………….
Feel for the parents who’ve lost their child,
feel for the women whom men have defiled,
feel for the baby for whom there’s no breast,
and feel for the weary who find no rest.
To the lost…………..
Feel for the lives by life confused,
riddled with doubt, in loving abused;
feel for the lonely heart, conscious of sin,
which longs to be pure but fears to begin.
To the lost……………..
(©1989 WGRG, Iona Community, Govan, Glasgow G51 3UU, Scotland)
The Hidden Stream That Feeds (could relate to Psalm 1 if used)
Words (1994) by Thomas H. Troeger; Setting (2006) by Eleanor Daley
The Reverend Thomas H. Troeger is a distinguished author and poet. Canadian composer Eleanor Daly selected several of Dr. Troeger’s poems for her Four Canticles of Praise, of which “The Hidden Stream that Feeds” is the third. An undulating undercurrent of voices evokes the “hidden stream” with its “ceaseless currents” that “taste of heaven’s skies.”
The hidden stream that feeds our daily acts of care
Springs forth in worship when Christ leads
the church in song and prayer.
Lord, through our lives may others hear
Your living waters drawing near.
The stream runs clear and deep and tastes of heaven’s skies,
And where its ceaseless currents sweep
flows life that never dies.
Lord, through our lives may others hear
Your living waters drawing near.
A heart of stone and dust, of withered hopes and dreams,
Becomes a spring of faith and trust
by drinking from these streams.
Lord, through our lives may others hear
Your living waters drawing near.
We leave this watered place to work on rocky ground,
Yet even there, the streams of grace
sustain our daily round.
Lord, through our lives may others hear
Your living waters drawing near.
Thom Shuman’s communion liturgy
Prayer of the Day
You are in the kitchen all night,
slicing, preparing, cooking, baking
food for all of your children
so we can feast at your table.
You do not clench your fist
tight around your grace,
but let it pour from your open hands
upon those who need it most.
We are blessed by such a God as you!
You sit into the wee hours,
telling us your stories,
until our weary souls
fall fast asleep.
You wrap us in
the swaddling clothes of faithfulness,
sending us forth to serve
the broken of our world.
We are called by such a Servant as you!
Tenacity and grace
are the work clothes
you put on each morning,
so you might mentor your children.
Sagacity is sprinkled
throughout your words,
sympathy trips off your tongue.
We are taught by such a Spirit as you!
In you, God in Community, Holy in One,
we have found all we need and long for,
and we offer the prayer we have been taught,
(The Lord’s Prayer)
Call to Reconciliation
While we try to live in God’s way, we know how often we follow the wrong advice, or walk down sin’s shadowed streets. Yet, God watches over us and calls us to confess, so we might be welcomed into the embracing arms of mercy and healing. Let us pray as we say,
Unison Prayer for Forgiveness
We confess how much we are like those first disciples of Jesus, Wisdom from on high. Our cravings for more and more toss us about like leaves in the fall winds. We boast of our great wisdom, yet do not understand your ways of peace and gentleness. We do not plant ourselves in your hope and grace, and so reap harvests of disorder and conflict.
Draw near to us, Gracious God, and forgive us. Draw us into your tender arms, and teach us peace, gentleness, the willingness to put the other first, the wisdom to serve instead of seize, so we might bring forth a harvest of righteousness, justice, and peace in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Silence is kept
Assurance of Pardon
This is the wisdom from above: God plants in us the forgiveness and healing we need, so we might share the good harvest of joy and mercy with everyone we meet.
Bathed in the living waters, fed by the Bread of life, we are given new life and hope. Thanks be to God, we are forgiven! Amen.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving
May the God who plants us by streams of living water be with you.
And also with you.
Open your hearts to the One who does good for us all the days of our lives.
We offer them to our God who feeds us with joy and hope.
Children of God, let your thanksgiving be on your lips in every moment.
Our hearts overflow with gratitude to the One who offers us the cup of grace.
You considered chaos, God of fruitfulness,
and planted creation deep in its barrenness.
Your Spirit whispered over the waters,
stirring into life that rich variety from your imagination;
the Word tagged close behind,
calling the sun, moon, and stars to shine,
shouting to the fields to blossom.
You shaped us in your image,
seeing us as most precious of all created,
willing to put our hands to work
in the peace and beauty of your garden.
But paying our money to the purveyors
of bad advice, we chose to wander
down the streets of sin and death.
Longing to feed us with your love,
you sent the prophets,
their words a feast of hope,
but we continued to chew
on the mouldy bread of unfaithfulness.
Then, taking Jesus in your arms,
you placed him tenderly among us,
reminding us that if we would welcome him,
we could embrace your salvation.
So, with those who have sought to do good
all the days of their lives,
we lift our voices in praise:
Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All creation sings of your steadfast love.
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is your Child who comes among us.
Hosanna in the highest!
We glorify you, God of holiness,
that by your love and mercy
you sent Jesus to live among us,
walking the paths of the world with us.
In the midst of conflicts and divisions,
he seeks to attract us with his gentle peace;
in facing the walls of rejection we build,
he would tear them down with his
gracious acceptance of all people;
in taking up his cross,
he became the servant of all,
and when death thought he was
in its selfish grasp at last,
he was raised to new life by you,
the promise of the resurrection for all.
Though we may not always understand,
we remember his willingness to be last,
we celebrate his triumph over death,
and we proclaim that he is the bread of life:
Christ has died;
Christ has been raised;
Christ will come again.
Pour out your Spirit
upon those who gather
in this place, in these moments,
and upon the gifts of your feast.
As we bring our famished souls to your Table,
strengthen us with the bread of life,
so we might go forth to offer
hope and grace to the needy around us;
as we open our parched hearts to you,
fill us with the servant spirit of the cup,
so that, setting aside our thirst for greatness,
we might offer our lives in service,
taking peace and reconciliation
to the brokenness of our world.
And when we come to the end of our journey,
gathering by the eternal streams of living water
with all those who have gone before and come after,
we will delight in your glory and grace through all eternity,
our glad songs of thanksgiving offered to you always,
God in Community, Holy in One. Amen.
Sending
Let us go to walk the road of service.
We will feed others with God’s hope.
Let us go to break down the walls of resentment.
We will join the Servant of the world
in embracing the refugees of despair and fear.
Let us go to teach kindness in our world.
We will gather up our sisters and brothers,
and rest in the Spirit’s peaceful lap.
(Source: Thom M. Shuman, Lectionary Liturgies)
The 2012 9.30 Pilgrim UC service was a Taize service with communion
