Order of Worship
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
O Holy God who dares to call us beloved, you are our source of wisdom and joy. Your love and mercy transcends the artificial boundaries we have established and even reach beyond time and space to touch us here and call us to healing and unity. In thanksgiving for your expansive love it is our joy bring you praise here in this place. Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! God has blessed us and brought us to this place. Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! God has stirred our hearts and made us glad. Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! God has shown us the way of truth and life. For Sixty years, God has nurtured and fed us. For Sixty years, God has shown us his grace. For Sixty years, God has given herself in Word and Sacrament. For Sixty years, God has empowered us with her Holy Spirit. For Sixty years, God has made us their witnesses in the world. For Sixty years, God has placed us in loving fellowship with one another. Amen. GREETING FROM REVEREND SANDY OLEWINE — District Superintendent
Almighty God, we give you thanks for the work you have done in this
place. We give you thanks for your love and faithfulness. When we
called on your name, you made your presence known to us. When
we prayed, you heard us. When we preached your Word and
administered your Sacraments, you were in our midst. You have
accepted our humble sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. And you
have sent your Holy Spirit to heal and comfort our hurts, our sorrows,
our infirmities, and our losses.
Almighty God, break down those prejudices and barriers which divide
us, and make us one in Christ.
Hear our prayer, O Lord. Continue to empower us with your Spirit, O Lord, that we might
proclaim your Good News to all people.
We dedicate our lives to your service.
Continue to comfort, heal, and lift up the broken and afflicted among
us. By the promise of your presence, bring us your healing love.
Hear our prayer, O Lord.
Show us how we might give care and support to the needy, and love
and mercy to the broken and forgotten.
We dedicate our lives to your service.
Bring us at last to the joy of your eternal kingdom, where, with the
faithful of this church who have gone before us and with all your
saints, we may evermore praise your name.
Hear our prayer, O Lord.
Show us new ways of loving one another and those around us.
We dedicate our lives to your service.
Renew us by the Spirit, given at our baptisms, so that we might be
challenged to move beyond our ruts, our apathy, and our anxieties of
inadequacy.
Hear our prayer, O Lord. Amen.
These are your words, O God. Humble us to speak their weight. Strengthen us to hear their truth. Unbind us to live their call. Through the power of your Holy Spirit, for the sake of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Luke 17:11-19 11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”
Questions for Reflection: Rev. Johan Dodge
The Greek word for “Eucharist’—eucharistia—means thanksgiving
and is used in Luke 17:16 to describe the Samaritan’s thankful
response of faith to Jesus, who had mercy on him. To live a
“eucharistic life,” then, is to live a life of thanksgiving to God. How
are you glorifying and enjoying God in your daily life? What new
habits or practices might cultivate in you a heart full of thanksgiving?
The Samaritan leper was doubly outcast from the society around him.
Is there someone in your own life whom you feel is an “outcast” to
you—or someone you would rather not be associated with for some
reason? Who are the “undesirables” in a larger sphere (national,
political, or social)? How can you “seek their welfare’? How may you,
in faith, reach out to such a one?
INVITATION TO THE OFFERING — Marylee Thomsen
Practicing gratitude can change our lives as individuals; it can change
our life as a congregation. In the spirit of gratitude to God, our giving
is not reduced to ethical duty but is elevated to delight and joy. As we
offer to God these measured gifts, let us also offer unmeasured
praise.
Like the leper healed who returned to Jesus, like the Jews and Gentiles of the early church, like those of this congregation who have gone before us; we praise and glorify your name, O God. You have given us more than we could have imagined! The Lord God is goodness itself and has blessed us with sixty years of mission and ministry as Community Church. We are a remembering people, but we are also a people of this day, brought together by God to be a holy fellowship of believers: the Body of Christ, sharing, caring, working in the world, and living in the hope of the world to come. Our eyes look back with thanksgiving. Our eyes look forward in hope. Therefore, with thanksgiving for the past and hope for the future, let us dedicate ourselves and our gifts to the mission which God gives us as the Church of Jesus Christ in this place. AMEN.
All the earth, praise God, for our God is an awesome God. May you be blessed with faith and made well. Step forth in joy. Walk out in song. Get up and go on your way, remembering to turn back in praise to God. Blessed Be the Tie that Binds Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above. Amen.