MIFFLIN AVENUE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
OCTOBER 4, 2020
Order of Worship Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
GREETING
WELCOMING WORDS
Pastor: On
World Communion Sunday, we prepare to celebrate the sacrament of the Lord’s
Supper with our sisters and brothers around the world.
People: It is a good time to consider again what
it means to live in relationship with God and our distant family members across
the globe.
Pastor: How do we live into the reality of the
peace/shalom/salvation that God has provided for us?
Pastor: We
gather to worship together; different people, different lives, different
histories and different stories.
People: Yet all children of the same Parent.
Pastor: Let us open ourselves to the presence of God at work in us,
among us, and through us; for we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
Hymn “They’ll
Know We Are Christians by Our Love” TFWS
#2223, V. 1
CHIMES AND
BRINGING FORTH THE LIGHT
PRAISING
*PROCESSIONAL HYMN “O God of Every
Nation” No.
435
CALL TO WORSHIP
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Leader: |
Today we are invited to a joyful feast, hosted by Jesus the Christ. We
gather around God's table from near and far. |
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People: |
We are the People of God! |
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Leader: |
All who are hungry will find the
bread of life here. |
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Though we differ in language,
custom, and tradition, |
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People: |
we are brothers and sisters in Christ! |
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Leader: |
All who are thirsty will find a
fountain of grace here. |
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For there is one Lord, one faith,
and one baptism. |
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People: |
We are One in God's Spirit! |
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Leader: |
All who are lost will find safety
here. |
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We are one and together we remember
our Lord Jesus. |
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People: |
For we are the people of redemption! |
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Leader: |
All who are broken will find
healing here. |
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He gave himself up for us, so we
could be reconciled to God. |
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People: |
All who have been wandering will find a home here. |
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Leader: |
All who are lonely will find a
friend here. For this is a heavenly
banquet, and you are welcome here! You
have a seat at the table. |
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OPENING PRAYER
Holy
God, we have feelings of wonder when we realize Christians around the world
will gather around your table.
On this World Communion Sunday, give us eyes to recognize your reflection
in the eye of Christians everywhere.
Give us a mind to accept and celebrate our differences. Give us a heart big enough to love your
children everywhere. We thank you for
setting a table with space enough for us all.
Lord, we give your our praise.
Amen.
CHILDREN’S MOMENTS
PRAYER FOR
ILLUMINATION
Leader: O Lord, open our eyes, our ears, our minds,
and our hearts;
People: that
we might behold wondrous things out of your word.
CHORAL RESPONSE “Thy
Word” No.
601
“Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”
FIRST LESSON Philippians
3:4b-14
Leader: This is the Word of the Lord.
People: Thanks
be to God.
*GOSPEL INTRO “Alleluia”
No.
186
“Alleluia, alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.”
*GOSPEL LESSON
Pastor: The Lord be with you,
People: And
also with you.
Pastor: A reading from the Gospel of St. Matthew.
People: Glory
to You, O Lord.
*THE GOSPEL IS READ Matthew
21: 33-46
*GLORIA PATRI No.
70
PROCLAIMING
WORLD COMMUNION HOMILY “You
Won’t Be Rejected Here”
CALL TO
CONFESSION
Pastor: Almighty God, from the ends of the earth
you have gathered us around Christ’s holy table.
People:
We come to feast together.
Pastor: Have mercy on your church, trouble and
divided.
People: Renew us and make us one.
GENERAL CONFESSION
Today, God, we
confess fumblings and failures in accomplishing unity
as we set aside yet another day to remind ourselves of the task. On this World
Communion Sunday, give us eyes to recognize your reflection in the eyes of
Christians everywhere. Give us a mind to accept and celebrate our differences.
Give us a heart big enough to love your children everywhere. We thank you for
setting a table with space enough for all.
SILENT CONFESSION
WORDS
OF ASSURANCE
Friends, believe the good news of the Gospel. In Jesus
Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself. Jesus Christ is God with
humankind. He is the eternal Son of the Father who became human and lived among
us to fulfill the work of reconciliation. He is present in the church by the
power of the Holy Spirit to continue and complete his mission. Therefore, the
church calls all people to be reconciled to God and to one another.
HYMN OF ASSURANCE
“Give Thanks” FTWS
No. 2036
INVITATION
TO THE OFFERING
THE LORD’S
OFFERING
In joyful
response to God’s gifts, let us now share with one another throughout the
world.
OFFERTORY “Praise
Be to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ” Scheidt
*DOXOLOGY No.
95
*OFFERTORY PRAYER
God, accept these gifts as symbols of
our love for you. On this World
Communion Sunday, use these gifts to unite your family all around the
world. Amen.
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 to give our thanks
and praise.
It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere
to give thanks to you, Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
You have made from one every nation and people to live on all
the face of the earth.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we
praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of
your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the one who comes in
the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ.
By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your
Church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, and made with us a new
covenant by water and the Spirit.
He commissioned us to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth and to make
disciples of all nations, and today his family in all the world is joining at
his holy table.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave
thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance
of me."
When the supper was over he took the cup, gave thanks to you,
gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured
out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me."
And so, in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus
Christ, we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we
proclaim the mystery of faith.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will
come again.
PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Pour
out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that we may be for the world,
the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
Renew
our communion with your Church throughout the world, and strengthen it in every
nation and among every people to witness faithfully in your name.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in
ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at
his heavenly banquet.
Through
your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church, all honor and
glory is yours, almighty Father, now and forever.
Amen.
LORD’S PRAYER (to be sung)
COMMUNION OF THE PEOPLE
Hymn “One
Bread One Body” No.
620
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
Gracious God, you have made us one
with all your people in heaven and on earth. You have fed us with the bread of
life and renewed us for our service. God of peace, may this meal, shared in the
Spirit with your son Jesus, strengthen us, your people, to engage in
peacemaking, to call for restraint, to plead for diplomacy, to urge the use of
international law, to halt the endless, downward spiral of violence in all
places. Strengthen us, your people, to raise our voices and to act. Amen.
*BENEDICTION
Pastor: With Christians around the world, we are united as Christ’s
body, in a world torn apart by division and isolation.
People: Knit
together in Christian love, we leave here to share living bread with a world
starving for spiritual food.
Pastor: With Christians around the world, we are blessed through
fellowship with Christ, in union with God and the Holy Spirit.
People: Woven together in
Christian hope, we leave here to share the cup of salvation with a world dying
of thirst.
*BENEDICTION RESPONSE “Danish
Amen” No.
898
*RECESSIONAL HYMN “Bind
Us Together” TFWS
No. 2226
*POSTLUDE “These Are the Holy Ten
Commands” J.
S. Bach
‘WE TAKE THE
LIGHT OF JESUS INTO THE WORLD”