PRELUDE
Praise to the Lord
(Schram)
Phyllis Swift
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Kevin Pearson
PRAYER OF PREPARATION
Rev. Kathy Brown
**GATHERING HYMN
Gather Us In TFWS #2236
PASSING OF THE PEACE OF CHRIST
Saint Paul’s United Methodist Church welcomes and extends our love to all persons regardless of age, race, income, nationality, life experiences, sexual orientation, or gender identity. All are welcome into our family. You are invited to greet one another with signs of God’s peace.
Peace be with you.
ALL: And also with you.
**RESPONSIVE CALL TO WORSHIP
adapted from Send No One Away, Meredith Bischoff
Some Pharisees wanted to test Jesus. So they came up to him and asked if it was right for a man to divorce his wife. Jesus asked them, “What does the Law of Moses say about that?” They answered, “Moses allows a man to write out divorce papers and send his wife away.” (Mark 10:2-4 CEV)
Following the way of Jesus, we will send no one away!
Some people brought their children to Jesus so that he could bless them by placing his hands on them. But his disciples told the people to stop bothering him. (Mark 10:13-14 CEV)
Following the way of Jesus, we will send no one away!
In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself, and said to them, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come a long way.” (Mark 8:1-3 CEV)
Following the way of Jesus, we will send no one away!
And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.” But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, “Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.” (Matthew 22-23 NIV)
Following the way of Jesus, we will send no one away!
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender siblings are walking with us on the path of the disciple. They have chosen to be there because they feel God’s call to them. Some have struggled throughout their lives with questions and uncertainties about their identity, their acceptability, their status as children of God. Some have dared to tell their story, resulting at times in warm acceptance and other times in cold rejection. Some have come to understand that God loves them unconditionally and embraces them as valued members of the human family; others are not so sure.
We as a community of faith value diversity and celebrate those differences as intentional acts of God’s creation. In that the realm of God includes all persons, we welcome and include all persons including persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and family units in the full life of the congregation. Following the way of Jesus, we will send no one away!
**HYMN OF PRAISE
Praise the Source of All Creation
See Insert
**AFFIRMATION OF FAITH
(spoken in unison)
We believe that God is present in the darkness before dawn; in the waiting and uncertainty where fear and courage join hands, conflict and caring link arms, and the sun rises over barbed wire.
We believe in a with-us God who sits down in our midst to share our humanity.
We affirm a faith that takes us beyond the safe place: into action, into vulnerability and into the streets.
We commit ourselves to work for change and put ourselves on the line; to bear responsibility, take risks, live powerfully and face humiliation; to stand with those on the edge; to choose life and to be used
**GLORIA PATRI UMH # 70
Glory be to the Father
and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.
Amen!
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
CHILDREN’S TIME
Rev. Earleen Reedy
This, this is where children belong.
Welcomed as part of the worshipping throng.
Water, God’s word, bread and cup, prayer and song.
This is where children belong.
A TIME OF PRAYER
Cares Chorus TFWS #2215
I cast all my cares upon you.
I lay all of my burdens down at your feet.
And any time that I don’t know what to do,
I will cast all my cares upon you.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE AND PASTORAL PRAYER
Lord, in your mercy….hear our prayers.
READING FROM THE PSALTER
Psalm 139:1-18
SPECIAL MUSIC
I Choose Love
(Mark A. Miller)
Kevin Pearson
Song written for Mother Emmanuel AME Church, Charleston, South Carolina
**READING FROM THE GOSPEL
John 11:1-44
SERMON
Unbound and Wonderfully Made
Rev. Kathy Brown
HYMN OF RESPONSE
Take Our Hearts
(refrain only, 2 times)
UMH #314
Take our bread,
we ask you take our hearts,
We love you. Take our lives,
O God, we are yours,
we are yours.
HOLY COMMUNION THE GREAT THANKSGIVING
God is here with us.
And with all creation.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Holy One.
Let us give thanks to the Creator our God.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
Blessed are you, our Alpha and our Omega, whose strong and loving arms encompass the universe, for with your eternal Word and Holy Spirit you are forever one God. Through your Word you created all things and called them good, and in you we live and move and have our being. When we fell into sin, you did not desert us. You made covenant with your people Israel and spoke through prophets and teachers. In Jesus Christ your Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
And so, with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed are they who come in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Holy are you, and blessed is Jesus Christ, who called you Abba, Father. As a mother tenderly gathers her children, you embraced a people as your own and filled them with a longing for a peace that would last and for a justice that would never fail. In Jesus’ suffering and death you took upon yourself our sin and death and destroyed their power for ever.
You raised from the dead this same Jesus, who now reigns with you in glory, and poured upon us your Holy Spirit, making us the people of your new covenant.
On the night before meeting with death, Jesus took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to the disciples, and said:
“Take, eat; This is my body which is given to you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
When the supper was over Jesus took the cup, gave thanks to you, gave it to the disciples, and said:
“Drink from this, all of you; this is my blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
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.
Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts, that in the breaking of this bread and the drinking of this wine we may know the presence of the living Christ and be renewed as the body of Christ for the world, redeemed by Christ’s love.
As the grain and grapes, once dispersed in the fields, are now united on this table in bread and wine, so may we and all your people be gathered from every time and place into the unity of your eternal household and feast at your table for ever.
Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honor and glory is yours, almighty and loving God, now and for ever.
Amen.
HYMM OF INVITATION TO COMMUNION
Come to the Table of Grace
Come to the table of grace.
Come to the table of grace.
This is God’s table it’s not yours or mine.
Come to the table of grace
(Vs. 2 Come to the table of peace; vs. 3 love; )
GIVING OF OUR TITHES AND OFFERING
OFFERTORY PRAYER
Let Us Be Bread TFWS # 2260
Let us be bread,
blessed by the Lord,
broken and shared,
life for the world.
Let us be wine,
love freely poured.
Let us be one in the Lord.
OFFERTORY MUSIC
Holy, Holy
(Owens)
Phyllis Swift
**DOXOLOGY
UMH #94
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow
Praise God, all creatures here below.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise God, the source of all our gifts.
Praise Jesus Christ, whose power uplifts
Praise the Spirit, Holy Spirit,
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
Alleluia!
THE SENDING FORTH
**HYMN OF INVITATION AND DISCIPLESHIP
TFWS # 2238
In the Midst of New Dimensions
**BENEDICTION
TAKING OUT THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
DEPARTING CHORUS
Draw the Circle Wide
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
No one stands alone, we’ll stand side by side.
Draw the circle, draw the circle wide.
POSTLUDE
Lord, You Give The Great Commission
(Taylor)
Phyllis Swift
As you leave today, remember you are taking the light of Christ into the world.
Make it shine!
