Proper 6B/Ordinary 11B/Pentecost 4

PROPER 6B/ORDINARY 11B/FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
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		Centering Prayer With your extravagant love, O God, light up the shadows of our unknowing. Let your presence here be stirring within my heart of hearts, that I would be able to worship you in the community of all your creation. Gathering Words This is the day that God has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. For it is a new day. It is a day in which God is doing new things. It is a day in which all things are made anew. It is a day of new beginnings! Trisagion Holy God, Holy and Mighty, Holy immortal One: come, heal our brokenness. and recreate us anew. Collect For Worship Almighty God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being: peel away the layers of our safe places that we might find our true self, loved by you far more than we are able to understand. May our worship be in integrity, with humbleness, and honest truth. Prayer For The Day Faithful Sower of Seeds that are love: prepare in us a place that will take what you give us and have it root and grow and bloom into the sacred sharing that is loving you and loving one another. For we long to be the people who follow closely in the way of Jesus. Scripture Reading—1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 God Most High said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve for Saul since I rejected him as ruler of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. For I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, for I have chosen my ruler from among his children.” But Samuel replied, “How can I go? For if Saul learns about it, I will be murdered.” “Take a heifer with you: I am sending you to Jesse. Tell him that you came to offer a sacrifice to God, and invite Jesse to the sacrifice. Then I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me my selection.”  Samuel did what God said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met Samuel. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” Samuel said, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to God. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his children and invited them to the sacrifice. When they arrived, and Samuel saw Eliab, and said to himself, “Surely, God’s anointed stands here before God Most High.” But God said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to appearance and height; I have rejected him. God does not see as mortals see; mortals see only appearances but God Most High sees into the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab to pass before Samuel, who said, “No. God has not chosen this one.” Next came Shammah, but Samuel said, “Not this one either.” Seven sons were presented to Samuel by Jesse, who said, “God has not chosen any of these.” Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse said, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until the lad arrives.” So they sent for the boy, a ruddy youth with bright eyes, and handsome to behold. God said, “Rise and anoint this one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed the boy in the presence of his brothers, and from that day forward the Spirit of God came upon David and was with him. Then Samuel set out on his way to Ramah. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. (adapted) Psalmody—Psalm 20 May God Most High answer you in the day of distress! May the Name of the God of Leah, Rachel and Jacob protect you! May God send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion! May God remember all your sacrifices, and accept your burnt offerings! May God give you your heart’s desires and fulfill all your dreams! We will shout for joy over your triumph and in the Name of God wave our banners—may God grant all your petitions! Now I know that God saves the anointed, answering from holy heaven with saving power. Some trust in political power, some in military might, but we trust in the Name of the Holy Most High One, our God! With only human resources, they fall; but we have risen, and we stand firm. Save us, O God, our Ruler! Answer when we call. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. (adapted) Scripture Reading—2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 12, 14-17 And so we are always full of confidence, even though we realize that to live in the body means to be absent from Jesus Christ. We walk by faith, not by sight. We are full of confidence, I repeat, and would actually prefer to be absent from the body and make our home with Christ. Whether we are living in the body or absent from it, we are intent on pleasing Christ.  For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and each of us will get what we deserve for the things we do while in the body, good or bad. No, we are not attempting to commend ourselves to you once again. We are just giving you a reason to be proud of us. In that way you will have an answer for those who boast of what is seen, rather than what is in the heart.  The love of Christ overwhelms us whenever we reflect on this: that if one person has died for all, then all have died.  The reason Christ died for all was so that the living should live no longer for themselves but for Christ, who died and was raised to life for them.  And so from now on, we don’t look on anyone in terms of mere human judgment. Even if we did once regard Christ in these terms, that is not how we know Christ now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now everything is new! —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Canticle We walk by faith Guided by the wisdom of ancestors And led by Christ’s love We walk by faith Baby steps: Tentative, Vulnerable, Fragile We walk by faith Leaps and bounds: Confident Protected Strong We walk by faith Mourning what has passed away Embracing new creation We walk by faith Each movement forward an act of courage Learning to live as wounded healers Walking by faith Constantly becoming ancestors to the next generation. —A Prayer-Poem, by the Rev. Melissa Hinnen† Scripture Reading—Mark 4:26-34 Jesus said further, “The reign of God is like this: a sower scatters seed on the ground, then goes to bed at night and gets up day after day.  Through it all the seed sprouts and grows without the sower knowing how it happens. The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the ear, and finally the ripe wheat in the ear. When the crop is ready, the sower wields the sickle, for the time is ripe for harvest.” Jesus went on to say, “What comparison can we use for the reign of God? What image will help to present it? It is like a mustard seed which people plant in the soil: it is the smallest of all the earth’s seeds, yet once it is sown, it springs up to become the largest of shrubs, with branches big enough for the birds of the sky to build nests in its shade.” Using many parables like these, Jesus spoke the message to them, as much as they could understand. Everything was spoken in parables, but Jesus explained everything to the disciples later when they were alone. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible Call To Confession God created. We got broken. We cannot repair ourselves. God redeems. We confess our broken ways and God forgives us. God is with us. We are given a new beginning and God calls in to ways of justice and peace. Prayer of Confession You, God, are doing a new thing…and we confess that we are still grieving over the ways we used to know. We hear you ask “how long will you look back at the old way?” and we admit that you won’t like our answer. We remember how it used to be, and we yearn for a return to those memories, even if they are not what you call us to today. We confess that we hold tightly to things that you have set aside, and so we are not able to focus on, let alone grasp, what you are doing now. Forgive us, God, and give us the courage to turn away from the familiar things that no longer serve your purpose, so that we can turn toward doing your will here and now. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen. —Teri Peterson† (based on 1 Samuel 16.1) Words Of Pardon “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through the Beloved and Only Begotten One, God's Anointed.” —Romans 5:1 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” —Ephesians 2:8 “I have blotted out your brokenness like a cloud and your wrong doings like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.” —Isaiah 44:22 Prayer Of Intercession Beloved in Christ, we walk by faith, not by sight. Trusting that God hears our prayers let us pray for all those in need: We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for the Church. Keep us steadfast in faith and love, that we may proclaim your truth with boldness and minister your justice with compassion.  We call upon your Name, O God! Answer us when we call.  We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for the world. For love, you have given all of yourself. We pray that all the people of the world would come to know that love.  Help us to be a living witness that your love will be found in us and in our living.  We call upon your Name, O God! Answer us when we call.  We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for all each person of your making and redeeming. May the seeds of your love be found in fertile soil of open hearts and minds, deeply rooted in steadfast faithfulness and holy wisdom, growing in abounding inclusion and affirmation of all. We call upon your Name, O God! Answer us when we call.  We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for all creation. Bless seeds to produce. Bless fields to yield their crop. Bless those who plant and those who gather. May all be blessed by the harvest. We call upon your Name, O God! Answer us when we call.  We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for all artists, poets, dancers and musicians. Remember their offerings of beauty and inspiration and prosper their plans. We thank you for the blessed gift of creativity.  We call upon your Name, O God! Answer us when we call.  We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for those in need. Answer them in their day of trouble. Send them help and strengthen them to stand.  We call upon your Name, O God! Answer us when we call.  We call to you, O God: hear our prayers for the dying and the dead. Raise those who have died in the body to newness of life. Grant them a home with you forever. Silence We call upon your Name, O God! —adapted from Williamson, Jeremiah D.. Praying the Scriptures: Litanies for Sunday Worship The Prayer Of Jesus (adapted by author) Our God, like a Mother and a Father, in heaven is your dwelling, on earth is your working. Most holy is your Name, the Name above all names. Your Kin-Dom come that your will be done, here and everywhere. In all times and seasons may there be just peace. Give each this day the portion they need and teach us to share with those who have less. Forgive us our wrong doings as we forgive those who have wronged us. You do not put us to the test, but you deliver us from all evil. For yours is the realm, the power, and the glory, forevermore. Amen. —GLakeDylan Prayer of Thanksgiving Receive our worship, O God, for we offer it in praise and thanksgiving. With uplifted and grateful hearts we commit ourselves to you and your service. Help us to serve you rightly, in all kindness, justice, and humbleness. Amen. Dismissal With Blessing May God bless you with new life, Christ tend you in grace, and the Holy Spirit guide your steps, as you walk by faith now and forever. —based on 2 Cor. 5: 7 __________ † The Reverend Melissa Hinnen is the pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, she is passionate about issues of peace and justice including helping the church to be a place where all are welcomed. † The Reverend Teri Peterson is a minister in the Church of Scotland, where she ministers to a fantastic congregation in the most beautiful place, and lives in perhaps the nation’s best manse with the best view and a 15 year old cat who is the actual pickiest eater in the universe.
A BEAD AND A PRAYER
		Cross Open our lips, O God, and we will declare your praise. Come to help us. Make haste to deliver us. All that your will may be done, here on earth as it is in heaven. Invitatory Creator God, through your Word we learn about you and the coming of your reign. Open our ears to hear and hearts to receive you, so that we might in turn share this good news with the world. Amen. Cruciform Spirit of the Living God, you give growth and life and energy to your Kin-Dom in ways that we do not fully comprehend. Even in the slumber of night you are working your mystery of creation, reconciliation, and the coming of your realm. Therefore, we gladly trust in you for your vital provisions. Grant, Dear God, our heart’s desire, as we seek to fulfill your plans for us. Hear and answer our petitions, O God, for without you there is nothing that we can do. But, in you all things are possible. Week 1—1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 ● God Most High said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve for Saul since I rejected him as ruler of Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way. For I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, for I have chosen my ruler from among his children.” But Samuel replied, “How can I go? For if Saul learns about it, I will be murdered.” ● “Take a heifer with you: I am sending you to Jesse. Tell him that you came to offer a sacrifice to God, and invite Jesse to the sacrifice. Then I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me my selection.”  ● Samuel did what God said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met Samuel. They asked, “Do you come in peace?” Samuel said, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to God. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his children and invited them to the sacrifice. ● When they arrived, and Samuel saw Eliab, and said to himself, “Surely, God’s anointed stands here before God Most High.” But God said to Samuel, “Pay no attention to appearance and height; I have rejected him. God does not see as mortals see; mortals see only appearances but God Most High sees into the heart.” ● Then Jesse called Abinadab to pass before Samuel, who said, “No. God has not chosen this one.” Next came Shammah, but Samuel said, “Not this one either.” Seven sons were presented to Samuel by Jesse, who said, “God has not chosen any of these.” ● Samuel asked, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse said, “but he is tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until the lad arrives.” ● So they sent for the boy, a ruddy youth with bright eyes, and handsome to behold. God said, “Rise and anoint this one.” Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed the boy in the presence of his brothers, and from that day forward the Spirit of God came upon David and was with him. Then Samuel set out on his way to Ramah. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. (adapted)          Cruciform God of Grace and Truth, we admit that we do not see as you see. We judge people by surface appearances and vague impressions, when we really have no business judging at all. In doing so, we reveal to you, our true judge of the heart, our need to be cleansed from broken ways and created anew in Christ. Set us free, O Loving God. Help us, O God, to let our old nature die, to regard others from your point of view, to make it our true aim in all things to please you. And in new day my we anoint with love those with whom we share time and place. All to your glory. All to be the ambassadors of justice and peace in a sin-sick world. —adapted from Slemmons, Timothy Matthew. When Heaven Stands Open: Liturgical Elements for Reformed Worship, Year B Week 2—Psalm 20 ● May God Most High answer you in the day of distress! May the Name of the God of Leah, Rachel and Jacob protect you! ● May God send you help from the sanctuary and sustain you from Zion! May God remember all your sacrifices, and accept your burnt offerings! ● May God give you your heart’s desires and fulfill all your dreams! ● We will shout for joy over your triumph and in the Name of God wave our banners—may God grant all your petitions! ● Now I know that God saves the anointed, answering from holy heaven with saving power. ● Some trust in political power, some in military might, but we trust in the Name of the Holy Most High One, our God! ● With only human resources, they fall; but we have risen, and we stand firm. Save us, O God, our Ruler! Answer when we call. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. (adapted) Cruciform All given for your growth, and your delight, All flowing for you from his sanctuary. Even before you enter in, his light  Is blessing you. May mystery Still draw you on, arouse your heart’s desire, And may each glimpse become epiphany May brief sparks blaze into a Holy fire Whose light and warmth illuminate your mind. And may some scent and sense of heaven inspire Your thoughts and words. May everything remind You of your Lord that you may put your trust Entirely in his name, not in the blind Dependence of this world, whose weapons rust Into the soul and and kill it from within, But may you find in Christ, riches and rest. —Ayodeji Malcolm Guite† Week 3—2 Corinthians 5:6-10, 12, 14-17 ● And so we are always full of confidence, even though we realize that to live in the body means to be absent from Jesus Christ. We walk by faith, not by sight. ● We are full of confidence, I repeat, and would actually prefer to be absent from the body and make our home with Christ. Whether we are living in the body or absent from it, we are intent on pleasing Christ.  ● For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and each of us will get what we deserve for the things we do while in the body, good or bad. ● No, we are not attempting to commend ourselves to you once again. We are just giving you a reason to be proud of us. In that way you will have an answer for those who boast of what is seen, rather than what is in the heart.  ● The love of Christ overwhelms us whenever we reflect on this: that if one person has died for all, then all have died.  ● The reason Christ died for all was so that the living should live no longer for themselves but for Christ, who died and was raised to life for them.  ● And so from now on, we don’t look on anyone in terms of mere human judgment. Even if we did once regard Christ in these terms, that is not how we know Christ now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation. The old order has passed away; now everything is new! —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible. Cruciform Lie down upon the ground, thou hopeless one! Press thy face in the grass, and do not speak. Dost feel the green globe whirl? Seven times a week Climbeth she out of darkness to the sun, Which is her God; seven times she doth not shun Awful eclipse, laying her patient cheek Upon a pillow ghost-beset with shriek Of voices utterless, which rave and run Through all the star-penumbra, craving light And tidings of the dawn from East and West. Calmly she sleepeth, and her sleep is blest With heavenly visions, and the joy of Night Treading aloft with moons; nor hath she fright Though cloudy tempests beat upon her breast. —George Macdonald (public domain) Week 4—Mark 4:26-34 ● Jesus said further, “The reign of God is like this: a sower scatters seed on the ground, then goes to bed at night and gets up day after day.  ● Through it all the seed sprouts and grows without the sower knowing how it happens. ● The soil produces a crop by itself—first the blade, then the ear, and finally the ripe wheat in the ear. ● When the crop is ready, the sower wields the sickle, for the time is ripe for harvest.” ● Jesus went on to say, “What comparison can we use for the reign of God? What image will help to present it? ● It is like a mustard seed which people plant in the soil: it is the smallest of all the earth’s seeds, yet once it is sown, it springs up to become the largest of shrubs, with branches big enough for the birds of the sky to build nests in its shade.” ● Using many parables like these, Jesus spoke the message to them, as much as they could understand. Everything was spoken in parables, but Jesus explained everything to the disciples later when they were alone. —Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible Cruciform The Kin-Dom of God is like…things we do not understand. More than that, the Kin-Dom of God is like things that are impossible. Starting with ordinary, and moving to extraordinary with a breath, with a word. Mustard seeds do not grow into trees. And yet. Farmers do not scatter seed recklessly. And yet. The Kin-Dom of God is like…things we cannot control. More than that, the Kin-Dom of God is impossible to control. Starting with ordinary, and moving to extraordinary with a word, a breath. Day and night, things happen beneath the surface, hidden from our sight. Night and day, we work and we watch for the moment it breaks through. The Kin-Dom of God is like… a story that opens more every time, with room for all in its branches, feeding whoever will come. Starting with ordinary and moving to extraordinary with a breath, with a word. —Teri Peterson† (based on Mark 4) Invitatory You come to fetch me from my work to-night  When supper’s on the table, and we’ll see  If I can leave off burying the white  Soft petals fallen from the apple tree.  (Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,  Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea;)  And go along with you ere you lose sight  Of what you came for and become like me,  Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.  How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed  On through the watching for that early birth  When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,  The sturdy seedling with arched body comes  Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs. —Putting in the Seed by Robert Frost (public domain) Cross Go with faith in God to guide you, and Christ to give you new life in the Spirit! __________ † Ayodeji Malcolm Guite is an English poet, singer-songwriter, Anglican priest, and academic. He is currently a Bye-Fellow and chaplain of Girton College, Cambridge and associate chaplain of St Edward King and Martyr in Cambridge.  † The Reverend Melissa Hinnen is the pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, she is passionate about issues of peace and justice including helping the church to be a place where all are welcomed. † The Reverend Teri Peterson is a minister in the Church of Scotland, where she ministers to a fantastic congregation in the most beautiful place, and lives in perhaps the nation’s best manse with the best view and a 15 year old cat who is the actual pickiest eater in the universe.