We Gather Together
Musical Prelude
Announcements
Promise of Divine Welcome
Invocation: Open Our Hearts, MV 21
Open our hearts, open our minds.
Open our lives to you, O loving God. (2x)
Open our hearts.
Call to Worship:
| One: | Praise be to God who created the Earth and gives us the harvest. |
| All: | God provides all that we need. |
| One: | Praise be to God who surrounds us with love, and strengthens us by the Holy Spirit. |
| All: | God’s care never ends. |
| One: | People of God, let us give thanks. |
| All: | Praise be to God! |
Lighting of the Christ Candle
Listening in the Light of Reconciliation
Opening Hymn: As Those of Old Their First-fruits Brought, VU 518
As those of old their first-fruits brought of vineyard, flock, and field
to God, the giver of all good, the source of bounteous yield;
so we today our first fruits bring: the wealth of this good land,
of farm and market, shop and home, of mind and heart and hand.
A world in need now summons us to labor, love, and give,
to make our life an offering to God, that all may live.
The church of Christ is calling us to make the dream come true:
a world redeemed, by Christ-like love, all life in Christ made new.
With gratitude and humble trust we bring our best to you,
not just to serve your cause, but share your love with neighbours too.
O God, who gave yourself to us in Jesus Christ, your son,
help us to give ourselves each day until life’s work is done.
Opening Prayer
Invitation to Confession
Song: Listen, God Is Calling, MV 97
Listen God is calling, through the Word inviting,
offering forgiveness, comfort, and joy.
Prayer of Confession
| One: | Loving God, form in us a space for healing and enter in anew. |
| All: | For too long we clutch the past in ways that prevent the possibility of moving forward. |
| One: | Boundaries of our making keep us resistant to your healing mercy. |
| All: | The world’s definitions create divisions preventing the possibility of a new day, a new season, a new life. |
| One: | Form us for a life of mercy and thanks. Lift every burden and release us from long-rehearsed stories holding us hostage to narratives of hopelessness, hurt and fear. |
| All: | Grant us a lightness of spirit forgiving and freeing us to leap into a dance of delight beyond our wildest imagination. |
Words of Assurance
Song: In the Lord, I’ll Be Ever Thankful (Taize)
In the Lord I’ll be ever thankful, in the Lord I will rejoice!
Look to God, do not be afraid:
lift up your voices, the Lord is near;
lift up your voices, the Lord is near.
Choral Anthem: We Gather Together
Children’s Hymn: Johnny Appleseed (traditional)
Oh, the Lord is good to me,
And so I thank the Lord,
For giving me the things I need:
The sun and the rain and the apple seed.
The Lord is good to me!
Oh, and every seed I sow,
Will grow into a tree;
And someday there’ll be apples there,
For everyone in the world to share.
Oh, the Lord is good to me!
Oh, the earth is good to me,
And so I thank the earth,
For giving me the things I need:
The sun and the rain and the apple seed.
The earth is good to me! Johnny Appleseed!
The 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, the power, and the glory
forever and ever. Amen.
Children’s Prayer:
God, be in my eyes and in my looking.
God, be in my ears and in my listening.
God, be in my mouth and in my speaking.
God, be in my heart and in my understanding. Amen.
God Calls and We Respond to the Word
Psalm 100, Make A Joyful Noise, VU 820
Refrain:
Make a joyful noise all the earth! Worship your God with gladness.
Make a joyful noise all the earth. Come to this place with a song!
Know that your God has made you. Know it’s to God we belong.
And come to this place with joyfulness and praise. Worship your God with a song! R
Enter these gates, thanksgiving. Enter these courts with praise.
Sing thanks to your God and bless the holy Name. Worship your God with a song! R
Ages through endless ages, seasons of endless years,
the love of our Maker ever shall endure. Worship your God with a song! R
Philippians 4:4-9
John 6:25-35
Sermon: Taste and Be Seen, Rev. Cynthia O’Connell
Hymn: Bread of Life, Feed my Soul, MV 194
Bread of life, feed my soul, as the presence of the Spirit makes me whole.
Bread of life, fill my heart with the grace and mercy you impart.
I have heard your voice calling, “Come, my friend, and share in the feast
that is laid out for you to show how much I care.”
Bread of life, help me live a life as pure and true as Jesus did.
Bread of life, help me see the boundless love of Christ for you and me.
I have heard your voice calling, “Come, my friend, and share in the feast
that is laid out for you to show how much I care.”
Bread of life, feed my soul, as the presence of the Spirit makes me whole.
Bread of life, fill my heart with the grace and mercy you impart.
Invitation to the Offering
Music
Doxology: Grant Us, God, the Grace, VU 540
Grant us, God, the grace of giving,
with a spirit large and free,
that ourselves and all our living
we may offer faithfully.
We Pray
Prayers of the People
O Give Thanks to God for Steadfast Love
O give thanks to God for steadfast love;
God’s love endures forever.
O give thanks to God, O give thanks to God,
for God’s love endures forever.
Poem: Prayer by Mary Oliver
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
Closing Hymn: Now Thank We All Our God, VU 236
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done, in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us in God’s grace, and guide us when perplexed,
and free us from all ill in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God for all that has been given,
the Son, and Spirit blest who dwell in highest heaven,
the one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore;
for thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
Commissioning:
| One: | Go into our world again and share the bread of life with all you meet. |
| All: | We share by doing as others would have us do. |
| One: | Share by offering love and mercy; |
| All: | We share by extending forgiveness and understanding. |
| One: | Share by loving God with all your heart |
| All: | We share by loving others as ourselves. |
Benediction
Song: Go Gently, Go Lightly
Go gently, go lightly, go safe in the Spirit,
live simply, don’t carry much more than you need:
go trusting God’s goodness, go spreading God’s kindness,
stay centered on Jesus and where he will lead.
Go singing, go bringing the gifts of the Spirit,
go hopefully searching for things that are true:
in living, in loving, whatever befalls you,
God keep you, God bless you in all that you do.
Postlude
