Wall or Table?

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 is said 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 God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

Lord, make me a channel of disturbance. Where there is apathy, let me provoke; Where there is compliance, let me bring questioning; Where there is silence, may I be a voice. Where there is too much comfort and too little action, grant disruption; Where there are doors closed and hearts locked, grant the willingness to listen. When laws dictate and pain is overlooked … When tradition speaks louder than need … grant that I may seek rather to do justice than to talk about it; Disturb us, O Lord. To be with, as well as for, the alienated; To love the unlovable as well as the lovely; Lord, make me a channel of disturbance. ~ Author unknown

Holy God, source of all love in the world, we are in much need of your guidance. When we wobble and fall, stand us up, and help us walk again with cords of human kindness and bands of love.

We pray for your people and all who teach others with kindness and your way of love.

We pray for peace among nations and peace between people.

We pray for those suffering the scourge of war and the calamities of nature.

We pray for all those in need, especially women and children who suffer domestic violence and houselessness.

We pray for those who are ill, their families, and their caregivers.

We pray for those who refuse to give, who have more than enough but choose to build barns in which to hoard instead of help.

Loving God, through your Holy Spirit and gift of love, you nurture and nourish us. You love us with a steadfast love: low and high, rich and poor together. Renew in us your Way and release us from all fear, that we may heed these things and consider your steadfast love for all of creation. Amen.

Cantor sings: “Alleluia, alleluia. Alleluia, alleluia.” then …

Holy Loving God, allow us your wisdom, the mind of Christ. By your Holy Spirit open the Scriptures to us today, that in the Word, read and proclaimed, we might know your truth. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

The Parable of the Rich Fool ¹³Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” ¹⁶Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ ¹⁸Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ ²¹So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.”

We have in the past and on regular occasion talked about God as the source of all love and that God and love are interchangeable. So, what does it mean to be rich toward love?

We offer both white and red grape juice. If you are afraid of spilling red grape juice, a limited number of cups with white grape juice are provided.

Here at Community Church, we celebrate “Open Communion.” Anyone who wishes to commune may come to God’s Table. You do not have to be sinless; God forgives you. You do not have to be perfect; God encourages you to grow. You need not belong to any church; God invites all people to this meal. It is enough to love and follow God with all your heart. This is what God asks us to do. Come to God’s Table in faith this day. Go from this place to live and never be the same again. Let us commune as siblings in Christ.

God is in you.

We are in God.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift up our hearts in love.

Let us give thanks to the source of all love.

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. Almighty God, creator of heaven and earth, you formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, your love remained steadfast. You delivered us from captivity, made covenant to be our sovereign God, and spoke to us through your prophets, who looked for that day when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

Holy are you and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. Your Spirit anointed him to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, and to announce that the time had come when you would save your people.

He healed the sick, fed the hungry, and ate with sinners.

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.

At his ascension you exalted him to sit and reign with you at your right hand.

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; we are one body as we share in the bread together. 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 the cup of the new covenant, an ongoing sign of God’s love for you and all of God’s very good creation. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

On the day you raised him from the dead he was recognized by his disciples in the breaking of the bread, and in the power of your Holy Spirit your Church has continued in the breaking of the bread and sharing of the cup. 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:

Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and fruit of the vine. Make them be for us the symbols of your love and desire for us to be your body knit together to build the new creation, your preferred future for us.

By your Spirit help the body of Christ be one. Help the left hand and the right hand work as one in ministry to all the world. Help the eyes and the ears sense your present and coming kin-dom. Bring the blessing of the diversity of the body to bear fruit 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 God, now and forever. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER – Celtic Version:

Holy One beyond all names, Eternal Wellspring, May love rise again in us today, with food for every table, shelter for every family, and reverence for every life. Forgive us our failings in love, and free us from all falseness. That the light of our souls may shine, and the strength of our spirits endure — for Earth and all its

people — this day, tonight, and forever. Amen. - John Philip Newell

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.

The bread which we have eaten is a sharing in the bread of Christ. The cup over which we give thanks is the sharing in the cup of Christ.

Eternal God, we give you thanks for this holy mystery in which you have given yourself to us. Grant that we may go into the world in the strength of your Spirit, to give ourselves for others, in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God pours out blessings upon us, not so we can hoard them or take pride in what we have but that we might share our goods with the same generous spirit. With Joy, let us bring our tithes and offerings to God. Amen.

All that we have and all that we are comes from you, O God. If we were to give thanks until the end of time, we could not repay your love and your graciousness. Receive these meager offerings we pray and increase our generosity, what everything we say and do might show forth your irrepressible love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In the depths of our souls lie the wounds we dare not speak of, the scars of battles fought in silence. We carry these burdens, heavy and unseen, as we navigate the complexities of our minds and hearts. The pain we keep hidden, the struggles we bury deep within, are the silent cries for healing that echo in the chambers of our souls. May you heal from the things you never speak about. Let this be a mantra of hope, a beacon of light in the darkness of your inner turmoil. Embrace the journey towards mental wellness, where the unspoken wounds find solace in the embrace of self-care and self-compassion. Acknowledge the pain, the fear, the vulnerability that you guard so fiercely. Allow yourself the grace to unravel the layers of your hidden truths, to confront the shadows that linger in the corners of your mind. In the vulnerability of your silence, find the strength to voice your pain, to release the weight of unspoken words. Healing begins with acceptance, with the willingness to face the demons that haunt your thoughts and emotions. Seek the support and guidance of those who understand the language of silent struggles, who offer empathy and understanding without judgment. Share your story, not for validation, but for liberation from the chains of secrecy and shame. May you find peace in the process of healing, in the unraveling of the knots that bind your heart and mind. Let go of the stigma that silences your truth, and embrace the journey towards mental wellness with courage and resilience. You are not alone in your struggles, and you deserve to find healing and happiness beyond the shadows of the unspoken. May you heal from the things you never speak about, and may your journey towards mental wellness be a testament to the strength and beauty that lie within you. Embrace the healing power of self-expression, self-love, and self-discovery, and may your unspoken wounds be transformed into sources of wisdom and resilience. — Lorenz Cortezano