Sunday, August 30, 2020
CENTENARY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
THE GATHERED COMMUNITY WORSHIPS
August 30, 2020
Centering Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15
Click here for scripture
MINISTRY OF LIGHT
*CALL TO WORSHIP
As we gather here, let your love be free of insincerity, shun evil, cling to God’s goodness.
We give thanks to our Maker, we call upon our Redeemer’s Name!
As Christ’s family, show affection to one another, give each other a boost.
We are truly God’s children, the heirs of promise, chosen to serve.
Celebrate the hope that is in you, be patient in the midst of troubles, ground each day in prayer and praise.
We will sing, we will sing psalms of joy, we will sing of all God’s wonderful works and rejoice with all who love the Lord.
*HYMN OF PRAISE “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian,” No. 402
Click here for hymn
*GOSPEL LESSON Matthew 16: 21-28
Click here for scripture
MORNING PRAYER
God, you are made known to us in the rustling wind that blows, in the blazing fire that does not consume, in the face of the good, in the deep of the unknown.
We meet you here. We accept your greeting. We welcome your inspiration.
We await the change you have in store for us. Draw us in to you. Inhabit our spirits.
Focus our attention. Bring us to you – you who are already with us.
Help us to be as you would have us be. Through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, here and everywhere, now and always. Amen.
PASTORAL PRAYER
LORD’S PRAYER
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.
RESPONSIVE READING
Loving Friend, prayerfully we bring our patchwork love for a few people, and link it with your seamless love for all people.
We pray for those who each day do monotonous jobs for us.
Supermarket workers, mail sorters, those who fill potholes, those who do the laundry, those who deliver news papers or who weed public gardens, cleaners in offices and hospitals, factory workers, cooks and waiters, and parking lot attendants.
We pray for those who do exacting work, where every detail is important.
Nurses, bus drivers, tool makers and pharmacists, pilots and pathology technicians, cabinet makers, psychiatrists, tailors, and lawyers, accountants and opticians.
We pray for those whose work is always under critical observation.
Counselors and politicians, doctors and social workers, teachers and school principals, students and police officers, secretaries and shop assistants, bricklayers and all who cook our meals.
We pray, loving God, for those for whom life has become unexpectedly difficult.
Victims of accidents and their stunned loved ones. People who discover that they have contracted a serious illness, or those whose loved ones are dying or have died.
We pray for once-loving relationships that are falling apart, and for parents who are distressed for their runaway children; for single parents and parentless children, and the victims of domestic abuse whose cries for help have gone unnoticed by family or friends; for all students now trying to resume their relationships with school, friends, and teachers.
We pray for any who have lost their jobs, or have been long unemployed; those who continue in most stressful work situations, and the many whose desperate need for employment continues.
We pray, loving God for the church in its many denominations, and with its numerous parishes in city and country, their leaders and those still seeking.
God of all things seen and unseen, friend of all people, please receive our prayers and set them to work for the greater glory of the commonwealth of Christ Jesus. In whose name we pray. Amen!
CHILDREN’S MOMENTS
You are about to hear part of a letter the Apostle Paul wrote to Christ’s church in Rome a long time ago, but a short while after Jesus died and rose to heaven. Being Christian was a new thing, so Paul gave lots of orders…words that were actions Jesus’ people were to do as they lived their daily lives: LOVE, HATE EVIL, HANG ON TO GOOD, SHOW HONOR, HOPE, PRAY, CONTRIBUTE, BLESS, REJOICE, LIVE PEACEABLY, and many more. Talk to some-one about what orders you can follow each day and how. Try it. How does it make you feel?
WORSHIP WITH TITHES AND OFFERINGS may be mailed to the church with thanks to you and our Lord. As you do so, pray, “Bless Thou the gifts our hands have brought. Bless thou the work our hearts have planned. Ours is the faith, the will, the thought; the rest, O God, is in thy hand .”
EPISTLE LESSON Romans 12: 9-21
Click here for scripture
SERMON Rev. David Harper
Click here for Rev Harper’s message
*CLOSING HYMN “O Jesus, I Have Promised” No. 396
Click here for hymn
BENEDICTION
Whether called upon or ignored, your God will be with you.
Amen!
You may forget God, but you will never be forgotten.
Amen!
Go on your way, therefore, realizing how richly blessed you are, and take time to be a friend to others as God is a Friend to you.
Amen!