The Gathering
Tolling of the Hour
Welcome and Announcements ** Indicates, please stand.
Whether we are old or young, whether we are first-time or longtime worshipers, whether we come full of doubts or confidence, joy or sorrow, in this place we are all family, because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Welcome to all of you today!
Prelude
Prayer of Invocation
O risen Christ, you made yourself known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread at Emmaus; through our sharing in the bread of life in our many Christian communions, open our eyes and hands to the needs of all people. Let our hearts burn to share your gifts and help us to go forth with one another with bread: bread of hope, bread of life, bread of peace. Amen.
**Responsive Call to Worship Please stand in body or spirit as you are able.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
there is no end to his greatness.
One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
All your works praise you, Lord,
and your faithful servants bless you.
They make known the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your power.
My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord:
Let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.
**Opening Hymn God of Our Life #275
Call to Confession and Silent Prayer
Christ calls us to share the heavenly banquet of his love with all the saints in earth and heaven. Knowing our unworthiness and sin, let us in silence ask from him both mercy and forgiveness.
Unison Prayer of Confession
Almighty God, we confess that we are often swept up in the tide of our generation. We have failed in our calling to be your holy people, a people set apart for your divine purpose. We live more in apathy born of fatalism than in passion born of hope. We are moved more by private ambition than by social justice. We dream more of privilege and benefits than of service and sacrifice. We try to speak in your name without relinquishing our glories, without nourishing our souls, without relying wholly on your grace. Help us to make room in our hearts and lives for you. By your Holy Spirit, forgive us, revive us, and reshape us in your image. Amen.
Assurance of Pardon
You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God. People of God, all of us together have received God’s mercy in Christ. In Christ we are forgiven, redeemed, and made to be a community united in faith. Thanks be to God.
** Passing the Peace
The Peace of Christ be with you…
And also with you.
**Gloria Patri #579
Hearing the Word
Prayer of Illumination
Pour out your Spirit on us again, as your Word is proclaimed, that we may be faithful to our baptismal calling, ardently desire the communion of Christ’s body and blood, and serve the poor of your people and all who need your love, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture
Old Testament Reading Psalm 28:6-9
Instrumental Anthem
New Testament Reading 2 Corinthians 13:11-14
Sermon Leaving, Part Two Rev. Morris
**Hymn Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples #434
**Affirmation of Faith From Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A’s 54-55
I believe that the Son of God, through his Spirit and Word, out of the entire human race, from the beginning of the world to its end, gathers, protects, and preserves for himself a community chosen for eternal life and united in true faith. And of this community I am and always will be a living member. The communion of saints— believers one and all—as members of this community, share in Christ and in all his treasures and gifts. Each member should consider it a duty to use these gifts readily and cheerfully for the service and enrichment of the other members.
Invitation to Offering
The willingness to give is a sign of life. The fruit tree gives of its fruit, and we know it is alive. When it no longer gives, we know real life has gone out of it. The heart that hoards the blessings of God is no longer alive with spiritual power. To give is to live.
Offertory
**Doxology #592
**Unison Prayer of Dedication
God of life, we pray that our unity will be seen not only in what we believe but also in how we work together to be salt and light in this world. May our gifts today be a sign for each other and the world, that we pledge to work together in your name for the healing of this broken and hurting world. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Celebration of the Lord’s Supper
Words of Institution
God meets us in the sacraments, holy acts in which his deeds elicit our response. In the supper our Lord offers the bread and cup to believers to guarantee our share in his death and resurrection, and to unite us to him and to each other. We take this food gladly, announcing as we eat that Jesus is our life and that he shall come again to call us to the Supper of the Lamb. Come to this table: you who have much faith, and you who would like to have more; you who have been to this sacrament often, and you who have not been for a long time; you who have tried to follow Jesus, and you who have failed. Come. It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.
Great Prayer of Thanksgiving and the Lord’s Prayer
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right for us to give thanks and praise.
It is our joy and our peace, at all times and in all places to give thanks to you, holy Father, almighty, everlasting God, through Christ, our Lord.
It is truly right to glorify you, God, and to give you thanks, for you alone are God, living and true, dwelling in light inaccessible from before time and forever. Fountain of all life and source of all goodness, you made all things and fill them with your blessing; you created them to rejoice in the splendor of your radiance. Countless throngs of angels stand before you to serve you night and day, and, beholding the glory of your presence, they offer you unceasing praise. Joining with them, and giving voice to every creature under heaven, we glorify your name and lift our voices in joyful praise:
#562 Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, holy, holy, holy Lord God of power and might, heaven and earth are full, full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest, hosanna in the highest.
Most righteous God, we remember in this supper the perfect sacrifice offered once on the cross by our Lord Jesus Christ for the sin of the whole world. In the joy of his resurrection and in the expectation of his coming again, we offer ourselves to you as holy and living sacrifices. Together we proclaim the mystery of the faith.
#563 Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Send your Holy Spirit upon us, we pray, that the bread we break and the cup we bless may be to us the communion of the body and blood of Christ. Grant that, being joined together in him, we may attain to the unity of the faith and grow up in all things into Christ, our Lord. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
#564 Amen, amen, amen. Amen, amen.
Now, as our Savior Christ has taught us, we pray: Our Father who art in Heaven…
Preparing the Bread and Cup
We celebrate this feast in obedience to Christ’s example and mandate.
The Lord Jesus, on the night of his arrest, took bread, and after giving thanks to God, he broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take, eat. This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant sealed in my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this in remembrance of me.”
Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the saving death of the risen Lord until he comes.
Sharing the Bread and the Cup
Unison Prayer after Communion
Lord, you have put gladness in our hearts; you have satisfied our hunger with good things. In giving all, you have not withheld from us your own dear Son. How can we withhold anything from you, our Lord and our God? Renew us day by day with the gift of your Spirit, that we may give ourselves completely to your service and walk with joy in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
We Go Out to Serve
**Hymn Here I Am, Lord #525
**Charge Let us say together God’s invitation to a life of Christian discipleship.
Loving God, we have heard your call to live as one body. We thank you for your Son, the head of the body. We praise you for your Spirit, who works to make us one. Now as we leave to worship you in our work, fellowship, and leisure, we pray for the grace to live together in harmony. We pray for imagination to find ways to strengthen our unity in Christ. We also pray for courage to carry out these commitments in a spirit of joy, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
**Blessing
May the God who makes everything holy and whole, make you holy and whole, put you together— spirit, soul, and body— and keep you fit for the coming of our Master, Jesus Christ. The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he will do it! Amen.
Postlude