Light from Darkness

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.

PLEASE PICK UP YOUR NAME TAG IN THE NARTHEX BEFORE SERVICE TODAY. IF YOU’RE VISITING, WE’LL MAKE ONE FOR YOU!

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.

(Translated directly from Aramaic, the language of first-century Galilee and Judea.)

O cosmic Birther of all radiance and vibration, soften the ground of our being and carve out a space within us where your Presence can abide. Fill us with your creativity so that we may be empowered to bear the fruit of your mission. Let each of our actions bear fruit in accordance with our desire. Endow us with the wisdom to produce and share what each being needs to grow and flourish. Untie the tangled threads of destiny that bind us, as we release others from the entanglement of past mistakes. Do not let us be seduced by that which would divert us from our true purpose, but illuminate the opportunities of the present moment. For you are the ground and the fruitful vision, the birth, power, and fulfillment, as all is gathered and made whole once again. And So It Is!

Ever-present all-loving God, you are the source of all creation and have revealed through Jesus your way of love for us and for all of your very good creation. Receive now these prayers:

Your creation needs health …

Your creation needs peace …

Your creation needs hope …

Your creation needs blessing …

Your creation needs your presence …

Loving God, the need is so great but we are willing to be put to use. Guide us to be your way of love. Amen.

Love Lov-ing

Holy Spirit, as your word is read and preached, abide with us as we are gathered here, opening minds to increase understanding, opening hearts to bind us together in your love. In the way of Jesus we pray. Amen.

¹ When God began to create the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³ Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Love for One Another ⁸ Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. An Urgent Appeal ¹¹ Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; ¹² the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; ¹³ let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Reproving Another Who Sins ¹⁵ “If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If you are listened to, you have regained that one. ¹⁶ But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If that person refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax collector.¹⁸ Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

Where do you find darkness around you? How do you currently bring light to the darkness? Where might the Spirit be coming to bring light to darkness in some part of your life?

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.

We gather round this table now as fellow creatures, at God’s calling flock, huddle, shoal or swarm … Drawn together to receive identity: more than our communities, or even our churches, can be alone. Like the Earth, we do not own Christ’s table which feeds and sustains us like our common home, it is ‘ours’ only when we share. Yet here, we’re welcome: like those friends Christ first gathered. Welcome for justice, fulfillment and love. Welcome, with prophets, publicans with eco-warriors and dodgy characters with those you’d expect and those you’d rather weren’t here. Called to re-celebrate; to be a work of God repurposed as friends of Jesus refreshed by bread and wine through human hands, from Earth’s own self on whom, and whom, and as whom we feed.

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.

Throughout all ages, as mountains dance and trees applaud the cries of birth are also loud for all to hear and tend. Your Sabbath and Jubilee insist: “Refreshment and rest for all Creation”. But we made exceptions. Your People sought milk and honey, yet injustice laid lands waste. Your prophets: priests and farmers call us to account. Yet your loving signs of warning fall often by the wayside. And greed and pride insist on harmful choices knowingly embraced. Yet still comes Christ Jesus, friend of wildlife, beloved of the poor, scolding the seas, teaching with trees, and God’s wildness in Wind. When with Christ we shoulder the cross of healing; we shudder at the disaster of truth denied by power; and yet … risen and present through food and faith Christ calls us afresh to care for a damaged world. And so, as God’s people on earth and all the company of heaven, we praise your name and join their unending hymn:

God, Sustainer, gusting and fluttering life with the good things of the Earth: food and drink we offer; flesh and blood we are. As Jesus did, so do we: We break this bread. We share this cup. We trust that Jesus revealed your way of living in this world — a commonwealth of shared living as the body of Christ empowered by the Holy Spirit.

And now, in remembrance of 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 kindom. 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.

Paul’s counsel to the church in Rome was this: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” SO come, let us love one another and all in God’s very good creation, by sharing what we have been given so needs are met and the love of God is proclaimed.

Ever-present God, just as Jesus promised to be among us when two or three are gathered in his name, be among us now, that these offerings may become instruments of your love and justice. In the way of Jesus we pray. Amen.

May the Creator who made the light, the Christ who is the light, and the Spirit who ignites the light within abide with you and all creation now and always. Amen.

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