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Nineteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time ♦ Proper 14 ♦ Ninth Sunday After Pentecost August 7, 2022 A Liturgy For Worship And Meditation OPENING WORDS (from Hebrews 11) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, The conviction of things not seen. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. By faith our ancestors set out for a place not knowing where they were going, by faith our ancestors saw only a glimpse of the promise, yet trusted God. By faith, we gather to worship our God, we trust in the glimpse of the promise we have received, and hope in the God who creates, redeems, and sustains. OPENING PRAYER God of justice, your word is light and truth. Let your face shine on us to restore us, that we may walk in your way, seeking justice and doing good. Amen. —https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu SONG (Click Here For Music) Author—Thomas O. Chisholm (1923) FAITHFULNESS—William Marion Runyan (1923) Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not; as thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. Refrain: Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; all I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me! Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, sun, moon, and stars in their courses above join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain] Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth, thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide, strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! [Refrain] People of God, come near. You who believe in your own righteousness and you who are looking to be restored; you who have done evil, and you who are looking to do good; you stubborn know-it-alls, and you who are ready to listen. God is speaking. Come into the circle of grace and find the love that makes all things new. PRAYER OF BROKENESS Faithful One, we confess that we have at times been faithless. The pursuits of the world have captured our hearts. The promise of safety and security in wealth and worldly possessions is a temptation we fall for. The desire to consume never satisfies us, and we hunger and thirst for the wrong things. Forgive us for our faithlessness, O God. Call us back to Your ways of love and justice. Remind us that You are the Bread of Life, the Wellspring of Living Water. Our treasure is not in worldly possessions and wealth, but in the love we have for one another and You. Call us into the ways of Your reign, Your beloved community, where we can meet the needs of each other, where Your love can satisfy our longing. In the name of all, who gave up the ways of this world by laying down their life for us, we pray. Amen. WORDS OF ASSURANCE (from Hebrews 11) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. You are forgiven, loved, and restored. Go in faith, even when it’s hard, knowing that you are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses in Christ. You belong to God, and no one can take that from you. Amen. FIRST READING—Isaiah 1.1-20 1 The vision of Isaiah . . . regarding the rulers of Judah. 2 Hear this, you heavens! Earth, listen to me, for it is God Most High who speaks: I reared children, I nurtured them, but they rebelled against me. 3 The ox knows its owner, the donkey knows its owner’s feed trough; but Israel doesn’t know me; my people don’t understand. 4 Oh, what are a sinful nation you are! A people weighed down with injustice! You’re a gang of thugs, corrupt children who abandoned and despised me—God of Hosts, the Holy One of Israel—and turned your backs on me! 5 Why do you invite more punishment? Why do you persist in more rebellion? You have a massive head wound, your heart is completely diseased; 6 there is nothing healthy in you, from the top of your head to the sole of your foot—nothing but wounds, welts, and open sores, neither dressed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil. 7 Your country lies barren; your villages are ash heaps; foreigners pillage your land before your very eyes. Only foreigners can devastate a land so utterly! 8 Zion alone remains, standing like a sentinel’s hut in a vineyard, like a lean-to in a melon patch—like a city under siege 9 Had the Holy God Omnipotent not left a few survivors, we should have become like Sodom, another Gomorrah. 10 Hear the word of YHWH, you rulers of “Sodom”! Listen to the command of YHWH, you people of “Gomorrah” 11 “These interminable sacrifices of yours: what are they to me?” says God Most High. “I am fed up with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of calves! The blood of bulls, lambs, and goats nauseates me. 12 When you came to present yourselves before me, who asked you to trample over my courts? 13 Don’t bring any more of your useless offerings to me—their incense fills me with loathing. New moons, Sabbaths, assemblies—I cannot endure another festival of injustice! 14 Your new moons and your pilgrimages I despise with all my soul. They are wearisome to me; I am tired of bearing them. 15 When you open up your hands in prayer, I turn my eyes away from you. You may heap prayer upon prayer, but I won’t hear them—your hands are covered with blood! 16 Wash! Clean yourselves! Get your injustice out of my sight! Cease to do evil. 17 and learn to do good! Search for justice and help the oppressed! Protect those who are orphaned and plead the case of those who are widowed! 18 “Come now! Let us reason together,” says God Most High. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they can be white as snow. Though they are red as crimson, they can be like wool. 19 If you are willing to obey, you will eat the best that the land has to offer— 20 but if you persist in rebellion the sword will consume you instead!” The mouth of God Most High has spoken. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (altered) PSALMODY—Psalm 50:1-8, 22-23 1 The Holy One, God Most High, our God Almighty speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting. 2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. 3 The Holy One, God Most High, comes and won’t be silent: a devouring fire goes before God, while storms rage all around. 4 God summons heaven and earth to the trial of God’s people: 5 “Gather to me my faithful ones, who make their covenant with me by sacrifice!” 6 The heavens affirm God’s justice because it is God who is the judge! 7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak! Hear, O Israel, and I will testify against you! I am God—your God. 8 I don’t fault you for your sacrifices—on the contrary, your burnt offerings are always before me. 22 "Mark this, then, you who forget God, or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver. 23 Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honor me and prepare my road. To these I will reveal my salvation.” —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (altered) SECOND READING—Hebrews 11.1-3, 4-16 1 Faith is the reality of all that is hoped for; faith is the proof of all that is unseen. 2 Because of faith, our ancestors were approved by God. 3 By faith, we understand that the world was created by the word from God, and that what is visible came into being through the invisible. 8 By faith, Sarah and Abraham obeyed when they were called, and went off to the place they were to receive as a heritage; they went forth, moreover, not knowing where they were going. 9 By faith, Sarah and Abraham lived in the promised land as resident aliens, dwelling in tents with their children and grandchildren, who were heirs of the same promise— 10 for they were looking forward to the city with foundations, whose designer and maker is God. 11 By faith, Sarah received the ability to conceive, even though she was past childbearing age, for she thought that the One who had made the promise was worthy of trust. 12 As a result of this faith, there came forth from one woman and one man, themselves as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore. 13 All of them died in faith. They didn’t obtain what had been promised, but saw and welcomed it from afar. By acknowledging themselves to be strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 they showed that they were looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country from which they had come, they’d have been able to return to it. 16 But they were searching for a better country, a heavenly one. So God isn’t ashamed of them, or ashamed to be called their God. That’s why God has prepared a city for them. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward. (altered) GOSPEL READING—Luke 12.32-40 32 “Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your God to give you the Kin-Dom. 33 “Sell what you own and give the money to poorer people. Make purses for yourselves that don’t wear out—treasures that won’t fail you, in heaven that thieves can’t steal and moths can’t destroy. 34 For wherever your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be. 35 “Be dressed and ready, and keep your lamps lit. 36 Be like the household staff awaiting the owner’s return from a wedding, so that when the owner arrives and knocks, you’ll open the door without delay. 37 It will go well with those staff members whom the owner finds wide awake upon returning. I tell you the absolute truth, the owner will put on an apron, seat them at table and proceed to wait on them. 38 Should the owner happen to come at midnight, or before sunrise, and find them prepared, it will go well with them. 39 “Understand this: no homeowner who knew when a thief was coming would have let the thief break in! 40 So be on guard—the Promised One will come when least expected.” —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Sheed & Ward.(altered)
PRAYER Real-One, we come before You, heart to heart. We long to be our true selves. Strip away the worldliness that clings to us, that causes us to seek wealth, power, notoriety, and worldly success. Remove our burdens that weigh us down. Take away the shame and guilt that we use us to hide who we are. Ease our fears that cause us to conceal our authenticity. There is nothing to be ashamed of before You who has forgiven and restored us. There is nothing to be afraid of before You, for perfect love casts out fear. Real-One, help us to be real, with You and with each other. Help us to drop the personas and the false pretenses, and be who we are, who You created us to be—Your beloved children. This we ask as we walk in the way of Jesus, who was so real he lived and died as one of us, laying down his life for us, we pray. Amen. TO INCLUDE EUCHARIST—Click Here SONG (Click Here For Music) Carol Owens—Author (1972) FREELY FREELY—Carol Owens (1972) God forgave my sin in Jesus’ name I’ve been born again In Jesus’ name And in Jesus’ name I come to You To share His love as He told me to He said: ‘Freely, freely, you have received Freely, freely give Go in my Name, and because you believe Others will know that I live.’ All power is given in Jesus’ name In earth and heaven in Jesus’ name And in Jesus’ name I come to You To share his power as He told me to He said: ‘Freely, freely, you have received Freely, freely give Go in my Name, and because you believe Others will know that I live.’ God of peace and justice, how easy it is for us to fall into the trap of complacency. We get used to doing things the way we have always done them before. We celebrate your love and rejoice in your gifts through our ministry of worship and sacrament. We place our abundance before you in offerings to enable ministries of hope to flourish. Yet we hang back. We feel that we have done enough. We think that we have met the challenge of your call to us. Wake us up! Shake us up! Get us excited about all the wondrous ways in which we can serve you! Do not let our awareness of the needs of others be expressed only in our prayers for healing and compassion. Shape us to be people of justice and peace, bringing the glorious news of your love to all people. Stretch us out! Make us truly disciples who are always ready to help others. Create in us a new spirit and a joyful energy to serve you. For we ask these things as we follow in the way of Jesus. Amen. SONG (Click Here For Music) Author—Fred Pratt Green (1981) REPTON—C. Hubert H. Parry (1888) How clear is our vocation, Lord, when once we heed your call: to live according to your Word, and daily learn, refreshed, restored, that you are Lord of all and will not let us fall. But if, forgetful, we should find your yoke is hard to bear; if worldly pressures fray the mind, and love itself cannot unwind its tangled skein of care: our inward life repair. We marvel how your saints become in hindrances more sure, whose joyful virtues put to shame the casual way we wear your name and by our faults obscure your pow’r to cleanse and cure. In what you give us, Lord, to do, together or alone, in old routines and ventures new, may we not cease to look to you, the cross you hung upon— all you endeavored done. People of God, made ready by God's love and mercy: Go forth into God's world to serve in ministries of justice, kindness and peace. Know always that God's peace is with you. Amen. |
WORSHIP IN INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE AND PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT
WHY A BLOG?
As a clergyperson with a disability now retired, this is my humble attempt to provide a ministry that some will find helpful. I have always focused on be inclusive and have struggled with the church's tradition of referring to God and humankind with masculine names and pronouns. Since the 1970's, thanks to my dear sister-in-law, I have been aware of the discrimination of women and have worked in the parish and community for equal rights with an equity of access to the resources that add blessing to life. I hope this site is of meaning to those who read it and worship with me and others within it. Peace.