Order of Worship
Opening Announcements — Rev. Johan Dodge
Good Morning and Welcome to Worship!
Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact
with this growing community of faith. And so if you are joining us for
the first time, I say to you what I say every Sunday. You are welcome
here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of
God for God’s Very Good Creation.
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.
Author of Life, Living Word, Holy Breath, we have stumbled through the week and groped our way back to this place. Illumine the steps before us and write your word on our hearts, for we carry the name of Jesus and would walk in the light of his love. Amen.
Holy God, In every fragile, reckless moment, we belong to you. We
thank you for the desire of our parents who gave us life.
O God, you are the source of all growth; your grace abounds
forever.
May the love we have received spill gratitude from our hearts. May
the wounds we carry open our hearts to the needs of others. May we
recognize in your mercy the faithfulness that judges and redeems
every human bond.
O God, you are the source of all growth; your grace abounds
forever.
We lift to you now all that seems irreconcilable in our families ... in
our schools and workplaces ... in our nation ... in your church ... in
your world ...
O God, you are the source of all growth; your grace abounds
forever.
We pray for those we identify as leaders in every sphere of life.... We
pray for our president and for all whose decisions weigh heavily on
others....
O God, you are the source of all growth; your grace abounds
forever.
Even so, Lord, give us the courage to name ourselves as those
whose responsibility is great. Teach us to act, to tend the world you
love: to sow more than we reap, to heal more than we wound, to
make room for others as you made room for us.
O God, you are the source of all growth; your grace abounds
forever.
Redeeming God, stake your claim upon us now, until we hear your
gospel echo in each stranger’s story and see your image reflected on
every wounded face, for we pray in the name of Jesus, who unsettles
our lives for the sake of your love.
Amen.
God of life, by the power of your Spirit come to us now. Plow our hearts with your living Word until we who are broken become fertile with your love, for we long to bear fruit in a world that is wasting. We pray in the name of Jesus, whose charge we bear. Amen.
Romans 8:1-11 1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you. Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!” 18Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
Questions for Reflection: Rev. Johan Dodge
How is God’s resurrecting Spirit at work in you and in our community?
Where are you experiencing new life? Where are you struggling?
How might God be bringing new life from that struggle?
INVITATION TO THE OFFERING — Marylee Thomsen
We bring our gifts because tendrils of God’s love have worked their
ways into the soil of our hearts. Siblings, let us yield our lives to God’s
abundant harvest.
Giver of life, we do not want the cares of the world and the lure of wealth to choke your word among us. As the sower casts seeds abundantly, hopefully, so we long to participate in your seeding of the world. Receive these gifts as tokens of our lives. Send your cultivating Spirit to work among us until we yield and grow in grace, for we pray in the name of Jesus, who came out of love for the world. Amen.
May God, whose forgiveness is boundless, the Christ, whose charge is freedom, the Spirit, which grants us life and peace, keep us in grateful community as we seek to sow the love of God without judging the soil. 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.