Category: Worship Resources

November 15, 2026

Common Lectionary Texts

Judges 4. 1-7 — Deborah, a judge of Israel, gives advice to Barak, a local military leader, about a conflict.

Psalm 123 —We look to God like a maid watches the hand of her mistress.
—or—
Psalm 76 — God overwhelms for forces of war and saves the oppressed.

1 Thessalonians 5.1-11 — Stay awake and be alert for the coming of Christ.

Matthew 25.14-30 — The parable of the talents.

Narrative Lectionary (NL110)

Micah [1:3-5]; 5:2-5a; 6:6-8 —Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with God.
Matthew 9.13 —God wants mercy, not sacrifice

Resources for Micah here.

Preaching Thoughts

Narrative Lectionary

Matthew
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” There are two religions in the world, two ways of living life. One, rooted in the ego, which is the heart of our individuality, I call The Religion of Being Right: you figure out the rules—whether it’s the laws of God or science or the market or society—and you do what you need to to get what you want. Succeed, and you’re rewarded; fail, and you’re punished. The thing is you have to get it right. The other, rooted in the soul, which is our connection with God, is The Religion of Being In Love. Life is such a gift, and God is so good, that you’re in love with God, and everything you do flows out of that love. God’s “laws” aren’t requirements, but simply what love looks like. God doesn’t punish or reward, but only loves. If you sin, it’s because you don’t have enough love in you, so God loves you, until it overflows and you become loving. In The Religion of Being Right God is a lawgiver; our relationship is obedience. In The Religion of Being in Love God is a life-giver; our relationship is to receive, and to pass it on. In The Religion of Being Right our salvation depends on how good we are; in the Religion of Being in Love it depends on how good God is.
       Both religions are everywhere, including in scripture, where God is both a law-giver (obey and be saved; disobey and be punished) and a life-giver (“God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin” (Ex. 34.6-7, and many other places). But the two are incompatible. Either you will follow all the rules and eventually hurt someone, or you will love everybody and eventually break a rule. We are always choosing one or the other. Sometimes we choose the good out of love, sometimes out of necessity or duty. Jesus clearly favors The Religion of Being in Love, and quotes Hosea 6.6 twice in Matthew to make the choice clear: God doesn’t care if we get our religion right; God just wants us to love each other.
       This is Jesus’ entire message: he teaches no theology, no doctrine, but a way of living in love. We have encumbered his teachings with tons of doctrine, philosophy, theology and tradition—but his gospel is simple: trust God and be kind. Trust God to be kind—universally, unconditionally kind— and pass that kindness on to everyone else. Or, as Micah puts it: do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. That’s it.
        What would it be like if all our religion, all our doctrines, all our practices and traditions, were this simple and direct? We’re here to do justice, practice kindness, and humbly stay close to God. What would it be like if our church were this clear? I think we would shine.

Response
Let this be our faith, O God,:
to trust your love, and to receive it;
to live with kindness and with mercy;
to seek justice and to give ourselves
to the building of right relationships;
and to humbly stay near you
as you walk among us.
Let this be our faith:
to trust your love, and to receive it,
and to be kind.

Common Lectionary

Judges
       This is a glimpse into the period of the Judges before Israel was really a “nation” yet. But a pretty tiny glimpse. And it’s a paltry attempt to include a little (token?) spotlight on a woman in the history of Israel. It’s not very illuminating. I’d rather offer folks a fuller picture of woman’s leadership than this little snippet of Deborah’s military advice. Why not Tamar, or Rahab? Yes, those stories are “adult content,” but they show women as resourceful, wise, courageous and definitely part of God’s care for Israel.

1 Thessalonians
       As we ramp up toward the big climax of the liturgical year on Reign of Christ Sunday, we hear again about the Second Coming. Whether or not we anticipate an actual incident in our future we can label as the “Second Coming,” it’s clear that in this world torn by greed, violence, hate and oppression, we are clearly in need of divine intervention. As alarming as the images of “sudden destruction” are, that’s not the heart of Paul’s message. (After all, maybe the Second Coming is really gradual!) The message is twofold: the promise that the God of love and grace is not done with us yet, and the importance of “belonging to the day” instead of the night. When we focus on the image destruction our image of God’s judgment becomes destructive. But Paul is clear: “God has destined us for salvation.” The point is to live with God’s light, now, in this long night of evil and injustice. The point is not to separate ourselves into the saved and unsaved, but to “encourage one another and build up each other.”

Matthew
       It’s hard for us in our capitalist society to grasp the truth that nothing is ours, and hard to let go of the idol of personal possessions. The framers of the Declaration of Independence, perhaps influenced by John Locke, considered naming our inalienable rights as “life, liberty and property.” (Other contemporary declarations do.) Jesus knew better. This story suggests that everything that we think of as “ours”—our whole life— is actually God’s, given to us to steward. No matter how hard you think you worked for it, it’s not yours. (Besides, there’s always someone who’s worked harder than you, and they don’t have what you do.) Think of your whole life—your health, your skills and abilities, your possessions, your time, your income, your loves and cares and prayers, all of it—and imagine it’s a plate of fine food the chef has given you, as a waiter, to serve to some customers. It’s not yours, and not for you! It’s for you to share, to act as a steward. How would God spend your life? How might God want you to give away your time, your skills, your resources? A talent is a measure of weight (it works out to about 15 years’ wages), so even one talent, not even two or five, is what we might call “a ton of money.” So the one-talent worker doesn’t have much to complain about. “I was only given a measly million dollars to invest. Poor me.” How much do we have—what spiritual gifts—that we dismiss because others have more skill, fame, talent, charm or luck than we do? It’s all good. How do you focus on what you do have, not what you don’t, and share those gifts?

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Loving God, you create us in your image and claim us as your children.
All: We give you our lives in thanksgiving and praise!
You give us gifts, each different, and bless us with your grace.
We give you our lives in thanksgiving and praise!
Fill us with your Spirit, that we may serve you with love and joy.
We give you our lives in thanksgiving and praise! Alleluia!

2.
Leader: Joy of heaven, you shower us with gifts!
All: Fountain of life, you bless us.
Spirit of abundance, you flower in us.
God of grace, we thank you. We worship you.
We give our lives to you in gratitude and praise. Alleluia!

3.
Leader: What light God has given us,
that we might shine in the world’s darkness!
All: What love Christ has give us,
that we might love with his love!
What gifts the Spirit has given us,
that we might be for the world the good news of God’s grace.
Alleluia! Come, Love, and inspire us
to be your gifts for the world. Amen.

4.
Leader: Creator God, eternal Love, we praise you!
All: You bless us with good things.
You surround us with Creation, and bless us with human community.
You give us your presence in Jesus.
You forgive our faults and encourage us in our weakness.
You give us spiritual gifts, and your grace shines in us.
Why then would we not trust you?
Why would we not be generous, as you are generous?
Alleluia! Fill us with your spirit of giving.
Come, Spirit of Life, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

5.
Leader: Abundant God, you have given us every good thing, and so we thank you.
All: Enrich in us our spirit of generosity.
You provide for us, so that we may share abundantly in every good work.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, you love this world, and you choose to accomplish that love through us. You have given us gifts with which to bless this world, to heal the hurting, to feed, the needy to encourage the downtrodden. Stir up those gifts in us, and give us love and courage to share them, by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit and the presence of your loving Jesus. Amen.

2.
God of abundant blessings, you give us the gift of Creation; you give us the gift of life; you give us the gifts of all that we possess. Everything is a gift from you. We turn to you now to receive the gift of your Word, so that we might be transformed by your grace and filled with your spirit of abundance. We listen for your Word, and we open our hearts to your presence. Amen.

3.
Gracious God, unending source of blessing, unceasing well of grace, we thank you for the abundance of your good gifts. You have laid the treasures of your goodness in our hands. Stir up your grace in us so that we may bear your love and trust gladly into the world, by the power of your Spirit working in us. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Generous God,
you have invested your prayers in us
for the sake of your gospel.
Let your prayers multiply in us
for the sake of the healing of the world.

Prayer of Confession

Pastor: The grace of God is with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, we confess our sin to God with one another.
God have mercy.
We recall those times when we have invested what you have given to us
in love of others, and we give thanks for your grace.… Silent prayer …
We recall those times when we have kept your riches to ourselves,
and we give thanks for your grace. … Silent prayer …
God, we have seen your love in Jesus Christ.
We give thanks for your mercy.
People of God, by the grace we have seen in Christ we are assured
that our sin is forgiven entirely.
We are forgiven, and set free to live by the power of the Holy Spirit,
to the glory of God. Amen.

Poetry

             One talent

Sunrise and its gold,
a single kiss,

the sea that never tires
throwing its beauty at you,

trees scattering jewels,
stars saying their prayers

by candlelight
in their little houses—

such loveliness,
such precious coins.

You can’t say what they’re worth,
there is no measuring them

any more than the one you are,
little star among millions,

generous, infinite Talent
unburied,

mere single radiant
sun.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
1.
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) In gratitude we give you our lives, symbolized in our gifts. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. You have given us each gifts with which to live your gospel and share your grace. Send us, each with our own way of blessing, and together as the Body of Christ, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ and the power of your Spirit. Amen.

2.
…. Having received abundantly, we offer ourselves abundantly. Send us into the world, transformed by your spirit of generosity, to invest ourselves in the mending of all Creation, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

All of the Gifts I Have (Tune: Fairest Lord Jesus)

All of the gifts I have, all that is within me,
you give to me, O God, with care;
all of my prayers and skills, passions and energies
you grant to me to freely share.

Here are my hopes and dreams, attitudes and deepest loves,
all of the treasure to which I cling.
I will not hold them in, stilling my ardent song,
but serving you I’ll freely sing.

In all I keep or give, may I do my very best
in everything I say and do,
in harmony with you, only to love and bless,
with joy, to serve and honor you.


All That We Hold in Our Hands (Original song)

What do we hold in our hearts?
The hopes of a hungering people,
longing for you, and for bread,
and to truly be free.
What can we do, who are small?
The power is not ours at all:
God, you have hidden such grace
here in our hands.

What do we hold in our hands?
Nothing we have is unworthy.
An everyday gift you can use
in miraculous ways.
All that we hold in our hands
you’ll use if we give it to you.
Use what we hold in our hands
for what you will do.

What do we hold in our hands?
In it you’ve hidden the wondrous,
fishes and loaves you can use
to feed thousands with love.
All that we hold in our hands
we give in the name of your Son:
more than we ask or imagine,
may your will be done.

What do we hold in our hands?
Grace is abundant, not lacking.
Look now and see what we have
and find power and life.
All that we hold in our hands,
all that we have or can do,
all that we are by your grace
we give now to you.

All that we hold in our hands,
all that we have or can do,
all that we are by your grace
we give now to you.


Giving Heart (Tune: The Water is Wide- Gift of Love)

O God of grace, you set us free
and feed us all abundantly,
so help me trust the gifts you give,
with giving heart and hands to live.

Come, Spirit, come, and set me free
from all I cling to fearfully.
Come heal my heart, my fears relieve,
so I may give as I receive.

Your Bread of Life transforms us, Lord,
so we become your living Word.
Our lives no more are ours to hold,
but yours to share with all the world.


The Giving Song (Tune: DOVE OF PEACE — I Come with Joy)

God, send me out into the world to share all I possess.
My generosity shall be the faith that I confess,
the faith that I confess

For you have given me such gifts, grace infinite and deep,
that I can only share them all. There’s nothing I will keep,
there’s nothing I will keep..

And let my giving change me, Lord, to make me more like you:
to let your blessing flow through me, creating me anew,
creating me anew.

My life will not be known by what I have, but how I share,
courageously, with trust in you, with love and joy and care,
with love and joy and care.


God, We Give You All Our Gifts
(Tune: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, or Come Thou Long Expected Jesus)

God, we give you all our gifts, for they have come by grace from you.
Take them, bless them, use them for the work that you intend to do.
We are grateful for your blessings, grace you give a million ways.
May our gratitude resound through all our lives with joyous praise.

All that you entrust to us is meant for all the world to share;
we are stewards of your grace to scatter wide your loving care.
All our gifts are yours, not ours, and meant for us to humbly bear
to the world, in trust that in our grateful giving you are there.

Take our treasure, all our earnings, all our silver and our gold;
take in grace the things we cling to, those possessions that we hold.
In our giving may we find release from fear and trust in thee,
love for all, not just ourselves, for all the whole community.

Take our prayers, our loving presence; let compassion be our creed;
help us be there for each other and for those in greater need.
Take our many, varied, gifts, our works and service, God, employ;
let our lives bear witness to your grace, with thanks and boundless joy.


The Harvest of Your Grace (Original Song)
[2 Corinthians 9.6-15]

God scatters abroad, and gives to the poor, and fills the hungry with good things.
    Alleluia! O God, we rejoice in the harvest of your grace.
How blessed the poor, and all those that mourn. “You do to me as to them.”
     Alleluia! We offer our gifts for the harvest of your grace.
Now come to the Feast. Our cups overflow. With grateful hearts we remember.
    Alleluia! We come now to work in the harvest of your grace.
God’s grace will abound, in seed and in bread. In joy then sow as you reap.
   Alleluia! God, gather from us the harvest of your grace.
You will receive, so that you can give, and yield a harvest of good hearts.
   Alleluia! God send us to share in the harvest of your grace.

I Belong to You (Tune: Water is Wide / Gift of Love)

Beloved, I belong to you.
You give me birth; you make me new,
your image formed, by Spirit stirred.
You are the Song; I am your Word.

Whatever pains I may endure,
I still belong. Your love is sure.
Since I am yours, your will I do.
I trust and give myself to you.

I am your coin to richly spend,
so spend me, God, as you intend.
You bless my end; you hold my worth;
send me to love throughout the earth.

Beloved, I belong to you.
Do with me what your love will do.
Bear me, and I, through ease or strife
will find in you eternal life.

November 22, 2026

Common Lectionary Texts

Ezekiel 34.11-24 — God will shepherd us, rescue the lost, and save them from the fat, oppressive sheep.

Psalm 100 — We are God’s people, and the sheep of God’s pasture.

Ephesians 1.15-23 — “May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened” that you may know the greatness of God’s power, which raised Christ from the dead to be head of the church and all things. (See my paraphrase of the book of Ephesians.)

Matthew 25.31-46 — The final judgment of sheep and goats. “What you have done to the least of these…”

Narrative Lectionary (NL111)

Isaiah 36:1-3, 13-20; 37:1-7; 2:1-4 —The Assyrian king mocks Israel’s God, but Isaiah says Jerusalem will be saved. Swords into plowshares.

Matthew 5.14 —You are light for the world, a city on a hill.

Preaching Thoughts

               Narrative Lectionary

Isaiah. Tracking prophets’ predictions can be tricky. The essence of prophecy isn’t telling the future, but speaking to the present moment (though future consequences are often involved!). The significant thing about Isaiah’s prophecy is not the prediction that Sennacherib’s assault of Jerusalem will be called off—disaster will come upon Judah soon enough—but that we can trust God. The prophets often have strategic suggestions for kings in tight spots, but most often the prophets are not directing a battle but calling us to rise above the battle. Beyond Isaiah’s understanding of what’s going to happen next on the battlefield is his more overarching vision of God’s will for Israel: that all nations beat their swords into plowshares. Business leaders talk about “the 30,00 foot view,” or “getting up on the catwalk,” or similar metaphors of detaching from the struggles of the moment and looking at the big picture. Jesus and Isaiah both invite us to rise above the days’ squabbles, no matter how profound they are, and see the big picture: we are light for the world, harbingers and bearers of God’s Totally Different World, the Realm of God, the place of peace Isaiah envisions. Being light for the world doesn’t dictate exactly what we ought to do next, but it does shape what action we choose and how we go about it. Regardless of the future you expect, Isaiah says, beat your swords into plowshares. Regardless of the complexities of your struggles, Jesus says, whatever they are, and whatever you do, remember that you are light, and be faithful to that. (Note: it’s not that we ought to be light, but that we are light.)
         This is Reign of Christ Sunday. We acknowledge that we do not live under the control of those little local gods of fear and possessiveness, the little kings of neighborhood or nation, culture or race. We do not bow to to algorithms or prejudices. We live under the sovereignty of Christ, ruler of the Universe. We live under the protection of Christ, the Word made flesh. We live under the Law of Love. We are not consumers,we are not This-ians or That-ites: we are light. Our citizenship is in the Reign of Grace

Response
Leader: The world about is is clamoring.
All: But we are a people of peace.
We hear the snarling of war; the claws of wrath glint in the sun.
But we beat our swords into plowshares.
We will sow life, and not death.
Darkness moves among us,
the shadow of fear, clouds of despair.
But we are light. Of light we’re made.
We will shine in the darkest places.
God, your grace changes the world,
as light changes darkness.
Shine in us, O Radiant One.
Be our peace, and our hope, and our light.

                  Common Lectionary

Ezekiel
       The promise of God’s grace doesn’t come in a vacuum, but in the context of a world of hurt, evil and injustice. So the tending of God’s vulnerable ones includes saving them from the ravages of the selfish ones. Viewed socially, it’s a political outlook. How do we support the weak and vulnerable, and hold the rich and powerful to account? The “Reign of Christ” isn’t just a religious idea; it’s a vision for the real world, the way God intends for us to live together. How do we shape our laws, policies, economy and social structures to reflect God’s care for the weak, the marginalized, the dehumanized, the silenced and the exploited? To fail to do this is to give license to the “fat sheep” and their various systems of privilege and exclusion, and the resulting oppression and exploitation.

Ephesians (Click here for my paraphrase of the book of Ephesians.)
       If you’re ever feeling blue, read Ephesians. It’s just one blessing after another. (One hint that it’s not Paul writing but a follower, is that it never lapses into legal arguments. Just blessings.) As is often the case, pretty much every phrase in this passage is the seed of a good sermon. Among the gems:
   • “May the eyes of your heart be enlightened.” May you see through the lens of God’s love.
   • “The hope to which God has called you.” Trust that God’s will for you is good.
   • The power God exercises toward us is the power that raised Christ from the dead. The spirit of resurrection. Strong stuff.
   • Christ is above all human hierarchies and power structures. Love is more powerful than governments.
   • Christ is the head and the Church is the body, which embodies the fullness of God’s love.

Matthew
       The kingdom of God is not the afterlife. Jesus was intently interested in this life. The Kingdom of God is the world as God intends it, and the image of Jesus as “king” or sovereign means Love reigns over this world, and is the greatest power, even as greed and fear exert their will. When Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of God it was s a real-world alternative to the Kingdom of Herod, the Lordship of Caesar, the Empire of Rome. “Jesus is Lord” is a political statement. Reign of Christ Sunday celebrates that Christ is as Ephesians says “far above all rule and authority.” Jesus is Sovereign over a real, actual, worldly Empire of Grace, a real-world alternative—subversive, treasonous, even—to consumerism, Christian nationalism, capitalism, white supremacy, and all our hierarchies and power structures.
       The parable of the great judgment lets us glimpse something of what that Empire is about: compassion is the law of the land. In the Realm of God everybody gets what they need to thrive as members of the Body. That means special attention to the folks who are most harmed by our systems of privilege and exclusion. So God takes the side of the poor and powerless and marginalized, and commands us to do the same. Honoring Jesus as our king means committing to obeying his command to care for the poor and hurting.
       The reign of Christ means that Jesus is sovereign not only over the powers of the universe, but also over us and our own inner worlds. To claim Jesus as ruler of our lives is to make him the center of our rule of life, our intentional discipline, our way of living. A piece of paper is aligned with the use of a ruler. If Jesus rules our lives, our lives are arranged and measured with Jesus as our template, the ruler that provides straight lines of justice and righteousness. For Jesus to reign over our lives means we are willing to suffer for the sake of love and justice, to be faithful to God and in harmony with God and God’s grace, no matter what. So it’s not just Christ’s demand over us but Christ’s rule within us us that leads us to care for the poor.
       For those who believe in a literal hell, this story in Matthew is one of two stories Jesus tells specifically imagining such a thing—the other is the rich man and Lazarus. In both cases, the way you end up hell is not based on your religion, your creed, your faith, or even your prayer life, but ignoring the poor. Our true Sovereign is not found among the trappings of power, but among the poor. God does not just care about the poor; God is among the poor. To obey the sovereign of the Empire of Grace, we share the ruler’s passion and compassion for the poor.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Eternal God, you are the light of the minds that know you.
All:You are the joy of the hearts that love you,
the strength of the wills that serve you
Grant us so to know you that we may truly love you,
And so to love you that we may gladly serve you,
now and always. Alleluia! Amen!

2.
Leader: Creator God, you reign over all the universe with love and justice.
All: Glory! We thank you with love.
Christ, you reign over all human history with mercy and grace.
Glory! We thank you with love.
Holy Spirit, you reign in our hearts with beauty and power.
Glory! We thank you with love. Alleluia!

3.
Leader: From the Spirit who was, the Rock who is,
and the Strong One yet to come, grace and peace to you!
All: To the Love that reigns over us, the love that walks beside us
and the love that guides us from within, be praise and thanksgiving!
We come before God with humble joy, that we may learn to obey
the Sovereign of Love, the Ruler of mercy.
Alleluia! Let us worship God.

4. [from Ephesians 1.15-23]
Leader: God, glorious Mother and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we praise you.
All: You raised Christ from the dead
and seated him at your right hand, at the heart of all things.
Christ is far above all rule and authority, power and dominion,
above any title that can be given,
not only in the world we see, but in the unseen as well.
You have made him sovereign over everything,
and made him the head of the church, which is his body.
God, we pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that we may know you better.
Alleluia! May the eyes of our hearts be opened.
Come, Spirit of Life, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

5.
Leader: Creator God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Christ, Divine presence, Living Word,
God has put you at God’s right hand,
and you rule in power above all things.
Rule over our hearts, and work your infinite power within us.
Raise us to life, and direct us by your Spirit.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
Jesus Christ, you have taught us that what we do to each other, we do to you. Make us quick to help and slow to hurt, knowing that in our neighbor it is you who receive our love or our neglect. Shape us by your love, and fit us for your Realm of grace. Amen.

2.
O God of Love, you have put all things under the rule of Christ, the Lord of Love. Bring us under your sway, that we may be faithful citizens of your Empire of Grace, and obedient to the spirit of love you birth within us. Speak your Word to us, and make us yours, in the name of Christ, our friend and our Sovereign. Amen.

3.
Eternal God, you have set Christ to rule over all the earth. He reigns with mercy and grace. Under his glorious and gentle rule, help us as we read your scriptures and proclaim your good news, to listen with humble hearts and to devote our lives to your service. We pray in the name of Christ, our sovereign. Amen.

4.
Gentle and mighty God, we thank you, that you reign over the world with grace and compassion. You revealed your Realm in Jesus, who embodied your mercy and justice. He healed the sick, raised up the downtrodden, destroyed the powers of oppression, and proclaimed your Jubilee. In his death and resurrection you have brought us out of the realm of darkness and into the realm of your eternal light and life. Holy God, pour out your Holy Spirit on us and on all your church, that we may serve you faithfully in all that we do, in the name and the love of Christ. Amen.

5.
Gracious God, in this season of harvest and thanksgiving, we offer to you our gratitude and praise. For all that you have given us, we thank you. And we give you our hearts. Speak to us now, that we may hear your Word, and become your living Word by the Spirit of Christ living in us. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

1.
Holy Love,
you create, you rule, you give life.
Take charge of our hearts.
Bless us that we may be obedient
citizens of your Realm of Grace.

2.
God of love, Ruler of the Universe,
Gentle Christ, Sovereign of our hearts,
your love is supreme,
and we bow to your life-giving power.
May your love, and love alone,
rule our lives.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Pastor: The grace of God be with you.
Congregation: And also with you.
Trusting in God’s tender mercy, let us confess our sin to God with one another.
Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you.
Though you have been our sovereign, we have not obeyed you.
We have not let you rule our hearts.
We have not let you direct our thoughts or command our actions.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
You who have power over us, forgive us.
Remake us according to your grace.
Guide us in every step we take.
May your presence be the power in our lives;
may your love control our hearts and minds.
Help us to follow your Way, in the name of Christ,
and by the power of your Spirit in us. Amen.
[Silent prayer… the word of grace ]

2.
… God of love, we bow to the power of your love.
Gentle Christ, we submit to your mercy.
May your compassion cast out our fear.
May your forgiveness overrule our guilt.
May your generosity banish our selfishness.
May your grace supplant our sin.
O Love, rule on our hearts.
Make us obedient to your love.

Readings

Ephesians 1.15-23 — a paraphrase

I pray that the God of our Sovereign Jesus Christ,
the Father and Mother of glory,
who in Jesus has embodied among us
the love that creates and orders our lives
and makes them good and beautiful,
may awaken in you deep awareness
of God’s presence and love.
With the eyes of your heart enlightened
may you have the hope God has for you;
may you live in wonder and trust
of the gifts we all receive as God’s Beloved;
may you come more deeply to trust
the immeasurable power of God’s love.
It is love that raised Christ from the dead.
Christ’s love is the power that orders the universe,
that rules over all human dominion
and all realms before and after humans,
in the visible world and the unseen.
All things are subject to the sovereignty of Love.
And we, the church, are the Body of that love,
love that fills everything, and contains everything.
Everything.
Alleluia.

[See all of Ephesians paraphrased, here.]

Poetry

                The least of these
      
         Whatever you did to the least of these
                  you did to me.
                           —Matthew 25.40


This is not a simile.
         The poor are not an allegory.
                  God is the poor.

God is not observing them, but in them,
         the lonely and the rejected.
                  God takes the lowest place.

God is the powerless one,
         the misunderstood one,
                  the crucified one.

Under the bridge,
         in the nursing home,
                  in solitary,

this is the throne of the Sovereign,
         the Ruler of the universe:
                  the cross.

Until you see the glory of the divine
         in the street gang, the wheelchair,
                  the power of the heavens in the lifer,

you do not believe.
         Don’t go elsewhere to worship in ease.
                  Bow down, and serve, and know.



         The great judgment

“Lord, when did we see you
shot dead in the street and not cry out?
When did we see you walking in the desert
and not leave water for you?
When did we see you deported
or carted off to prison and not protest?
When did we see you homeless, and not reach out?
When did we see you struggling in the ICU,
or the nursing home, or on the locked ward,
and did not come to you?”

And he will answer…


         

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
       We believe in God, Creator of all, who is beyond all and in all, whose love and power is unsearchable and yet mysteriously present.
       We place our trust in Jesus, and not in any earthly authority; for Jesus fully embodies the loving presence of God: he taught and healed, and performed prophetic acts of mercy and justice. In his life, death and resurrection he released God’s infinite power for life and healing: grace that is eternal, free from all human authority, power or expectation.
       We live our lives by the grace of the Holy Spirit, God’s loving presence within and among us, which makes us the church, the Body of Christ. We live by the grace of forgiveness, the mystery of resurrection and the gift of eternal life. We rejoice that we are under no human authority, but under the grace of God; we are beholden to no earthly powers, but to the power of love. Therefore we devote ourselves to lives of worship through fearlessly giving the gifts God has given us, and loving and serving others in the spirit of Christ, for the sake of the blessing of the world, to the glory of God. Amen.

2. [Ephesians 1.15-23]
       We believe in God, the glorious Mother and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
       We rejoice that God has put immeasurably great power to work in Christ, raising him from the dead and seating him at God’s right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every title that can be named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. God has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of Christ who fills everything in every way.
       We pray that God may grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that we may come to know God more deeply. We pray that the eyes of our hearts may be opened, that we may know the hope to which God has called us, and that we may know the riches of God’s glorious inheritance among the saints, and the immeasurable greatness of God’s power for us who believe. As we give thanks for one another and remember each other in our prayers, may God deepen our faith, and our love for all the saints. Amen.

3. [Corinthians 15.1, 3-4, Ephesians 1.20-23]
       Leader: Sisters and brothers, remember the good news
that has been proclaimed to you, in which you stand.
       All: We gladly proclaim what we have received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,
that he was buried, and that God raised him from the dead;
and God seated him at God’s right hand in the heavenly places,
above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and has put all things under his feet.
In Christ all things hold together.
God has made him the head over all things for the church,
which is his body, by which he fills everything with his presence.
We, the Body of Christ, are given the ministry of grace,
that by the power of the Holy Spirit
we may bear witness to the Reign of Christ over all things,
now and forever. Amen.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) In gratitude we give you our lives, symbolized in our gifts. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. By your Spirit in us form us as citizens of your Realm, obedient to your law of grace, eager to work for justice in this world, in the name of Christ. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Bread and Justice (Tune: Amazing Grace)
[This can be found in Table Songs, a collection of communion songs.]

Dear Jesus, when we break our bread
with those who are in need,
we then by grace commune with God,
and it is you we feed.

When we sit down and eat with those
who hunger and who thirst,
we know that we are also poor,
and you have fed us first.

So call us to your table, Lord,
your grateful children, call:
where we receive your grace, unearned,
and turn to share with all.

Christ, Ruler of All Things (Tune: ST. ELIZABETH – Fairest Lord Jesus)

Christ, Ruler of all things, what is seen and unseen,
your love reigns; your grace is sure.
Beneath our fear and strife, death fails to conquer life:
your tender mercy still endures.

Christ, Ruler of our hearts, come and reign within us.
Make us comrades, siblings, friends.
Your love be our life, our only power,
that gives us life that never ends.

Christ, Ruler of the earth, bring your gentle justice:
your Realm come, your will be done.
Heal all oppression; fill us with mercy,
as faithful as the rising sun.

Christ, Ruler of all things, of what is and is to come,
Risen One, our song we raise.
Rule in our living; guide us with tender love.
Your grace in us will be your praise.

Love Is Enthroned     (Tune: Finlandia)

O, risen Christ, who once appeared among us,
you have ascended! Loud we sing your praise.
Though we may see no shadow of your nearness,
you have not gone; your loving presence stays.
You are no longer in one time or place,
but in all things, to radiate your grace.

Christ has ascended, reigning now above.
Love is enthroned at the Creator’s side.
All powers on earth are subject to Christ’s love,
who is our history’s unseen, gentle guide.
Though evil try to make this world its home,
Love is its Lord, and love shall overcome.

Go in the peace of Christ who is our Lord,
and gently heal, amid the fear and strife.
For we who eat and drink the living Word
are now Christ’s Body, and Christ’s earthly life.
We may not see the journey or the end,
but Christ still reigns, our ruler and our friend.

O Jesus, Wounded Sovereign     (Tune: O Sacred Head Now Wounded)

Dear Jesus, you who suffer and walk among the poor
whose hearts and lives are broken, whose faith is still unsure:
despised, accused and battered, you do not say a word.
So powerless, yet loving!— you are my Sovereign Lord.

You bear no arms but loving, no threats nor flags unfurled.
You wear no kingly robes, but the sorrows of the world.
Yet your forgiveness conquers each worldly rule and reign,
and rises, whole, undaunted, from evil, death and pain.

While emperors abuse you, and people shrug or stare,
and dark injustice troubles the ones for whom you care,
your mighty grace arises, and hidden from our sight,
enfolds all living beings in your triumphant light.

O Jesus, wounded Sovereign, I pray, give me the nerve
without this world’s armor to love and bless and serve.
My master and companion, rule all eternity
with grace and deep compassion, and, Love, begin with me.


O Sovereign Love
(Tune: O God, Our Help In Ages Past, or Amazing Grace)

Beloved, you who guard and guide and give for every need,
reign in my heart, O Sovereign Christ; direct each thought and deed.

O Sovereign Love, my root, my sun, my purpose and my peace,
I spurn the world’s vain, anxious rule, and trust your Law of Grace.

The Empire of your justice, God, with mercy’s clear command
shall be my home; my loyalty is to no lesser land.

In humble and obedient thanks I pledge my life to you,
to join your work of justice, God, to make the world anew.

Reign in my heart, O Christ, my Rule. In faith I am compelled
to serve you, who by love alone have conquered all the world.

May 31, 2026

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 1.1-2.4. God as Creator, and as Spirit: in the beginning God’s Spirit brooded over the waters….

Psalm 8. How majestic is your name in all the earth! Yet what are humans that you are mindful of them?

2 Corinthians 13.11-13. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

Matthew 28.16-20. Go make disciples of all nations… make disciples, teach and baptize in the name of Abba-God, Son and Holy Spirit.

Preaching Thoughts

        The image of the Trinity does not just describe three different jobs God has, but that God’s essence is in relationship; that God’s nature is beyond any one quality; that God exceeds all our understandings and categories. The Trinity is not a “doctrine” so much as an image. An icon. A koan. A mystery even. We diminish it when we turn it into a scientific formula. In fact what the “doctrine” of the Trinity means is that God can’t be turned into a doctrine.
         The Trinity is not a logical proposition you can either “agree” or “disagree” with. It’s an image, an icon, a symbol. It’s not two men and a bird; it’s about our three-dimensional experience of God. It’s a picture of God as Lover, Beloved and the Love that Flows Between—or Lover, Love, and Loveliness. It’s sort of like E=mc² in three dimensions. It’s an image of the whole world as a “thin place,” where the boundary is thin and porous between physical and spiritual, seen and unseen, finite and infinite.
        The Trinity is not mere division of labor, but an image of God’s
three-dimensionality. To be gender-neutral, we sometimes speak of God as “Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.” This does not mean that each “person” of the Trinity has their assigned task. All three persons are God—one God. One God does all these things. (John Wesley speaks of prevenient grace, justifying grace and sanctifying grace. They’re not three different kinds of grace, but three dimensions of grace.) Think of the Light and the Heat and the Wildness of Fire. We can speak of fire’s heat as a separate “person” of fire from its light, but it’s all one fire. And the fact that it’s a process and not an object, has everything to do with the radiation of its heat and its light. So it is with love. Love is the creating and organizing energy, the Unified Field (logos) of the universe. It’s infinite, eternal, unvarying, unconditional and absolute. And that very Love, the Big Bang of love, comes to us personally, in Jesus and in a million ways. And that same Infinite Love is in us whenever we love. When we speak of Father, Son and Spirit, we mean
the pre-existence of love, the receiving of love, and the embodying of love. It’s all one Love.
         God is Love. God is Mother, Heavenly Lover, source of all Being: “Father.” God’s love is infinite and eternal. When God’s love exists as pure energy we call it “Spirit.” When God’s love is embodied, made finite and mortal, we call it “Christ,” God’s energy appearing as matter, Word made flesh. Jesus fully embodied the Christ, or embodied love, of God. He was not just Jesus of Nazareth, he was Jesus of Christ. He was Christ appearing as Jesus. We too are finite instances of the infinite love of God, just as Jesus was. God’s spirit, which we see in him, is in all of us.
         The Trinity reminds us God is more than we think. It’s a way to keep our images of God slippery so we can’t have just one image. God is This and the Opposite of This and None of the above: God is infinite and also embodied; divine and also human; Father also Son, and also Mother.
       The Trinity is an image of God’s three-dimensionality. God is the Eternal Creator, Infinite Source, Reality Itself, Ground of Being, beyond all knowing or understanding. Yet God also comes to us in real, revealed, embodied form, in spoken Word, as God does in Jesus. And God also is within and among us, neither beyond us nor coming to us but arising from within us as Spirit: whenever we love—that’s God.
         The Trinity is an image of God as relationship. And it’s also an image of God as unity. Even though there seem to be three persons, they are One. And we’re part of that One. “I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (Jn. 14.20). And it’s an image of God as energy. With God one plus one equals three, because you also count the “plus.” God is the “proceeding” of Son from Father, and Spirit from both of them. (There’s a big controversy about whether the Spirit proceeds “from the Father” or “from the father and the Son.” The very nature of the Trinity is that they can’t be separated or distinguished. The Spirit proceeds from their relationship.) The Trinity is not a static organizational chart but an electric field, a living process, a loving flow, a divine dance. The Greek word for it is perichoresis (from peri, which means “around,” and chorein, which means “to give way” or “to make room”). The Trinity is God’s dancing-to-make-room-for-the-other.
         Strictly speaking the “Holy Trinity” isn’t biblical. Both 2 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 28 use what seems to be “Trinitarian” language; but the idea of the Trinity wasn’t developed until long after New Testament writings. However we can read the Trinity into those passages as well as other, right? Well, yes, in fact we can read the Trinity into everything. Which is the point: not that Genesis preaches the Trinity, but that we see the Trinity everywhere we look.

1 Corinthians
Beware of turning the Trinity into mere division of labor, as if God does love, Christ does grace and the Spirit does community. They all do all of it. (After all, they’re all God. They’re all Love.) Paul is just using a rhetorical flourish. He could just as rightly switched them around and said the grace of God, the love of the Spirit, and the community (or Body) of Christ.

Matthew
        Jesus says to make disciples. It doesn’t mean to make Christians. Jesus was not creating Christianity; he was revitalizing Judaism. He was teaching people to trust God and to love universally. Making disciples means leading people to imitate Jesus and rely more deeply on God’s grace and become more radically kind.
        Jesus says make disciples of all nations. This doesn’t mean to create “Christian nations.” Christian nationalism is directly against what Jesus taught. Jesus was not about creating political structures. “My ‘kingdom’ is not of this world.” To make disciples of all nations means to create faithful followers of Love throughout the world. Making disciples of all nations means leading people in every nation to be trusting, loving people— who shape their entire nations to be generous and loving. The energy for this (the Spirit) flows from the bottom up, not the top down: rather than a “Christian nation” that somehow enforces a particular belief system, Jesus imagines a whole nation shaped by generosity, kindness, and the embodiment of God’s grace.
       In the Lectionary the theme of our calling as disciples will continue for the next month. Jesus calls us to join him in healing, in witnessing for justice, in the work of the mending of the world. The pattern Jesus sets for us as disciples is not “believers” or even evangelists, but healers.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Eternal God, infinite and invisible Lover: we are in awe.
All: Beyond us, beside us, within and among us, you are our life.
Christ, Beloved, Word made flesh, brother in the journey: we are in love.
Beyond us, beside us, within and among us, you are our life.
Holy Spirit, love of God breathing in us, making us one: we are in you.
Beyond us, beside us, within and among us, you are our life. Alleluia!

2.
Leader: O Great Mystery, Infinite Being: Praise!
All: O Living Love, Word Among Us: Thanks!
O Flame of Life, Spirit of Joy: Awe!
Father-Mother, Giver of Life, we worship you.
Son, Beloved, Chosen One, we adore you.
Spirit, Breath of Love, we open ourselves to you. Alleluia!

3.
Leader: Infinite God, Loving Mystery, Eternal Father, Life-Giving Mother:All: We worship you.
Christ, the Only Begotten, Son of God, Loving Brother, Eternal Word:
We love you and trust you.
Holy Spirit, Breath of Life, Energy of Love Within:
We open our hearts to your grace.
We wonder at your mystery.
We are grateful for your love.
We accept the life and grace you give us.
O Love beyond us, beside us, within us, we give ourselves to you.
Create us anew in you, teach us your way, and breathe us into the world. Amen.

4.
Leader: Abba, Jesu, Spirit, come.
All: Abba, Jesu, Spirit, come.
Great Holy Trinity, heavenly family, draw us to your table.
Great Holy Mystery, heavenly Love, hold us in your heart.
We worship you. We praise you. We open to you. Alleluia.

5.
Leader: Eternal God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
You are present, you are holy, and we worship you.
Glory be to you, O God of all Creation.
Thanks be to you, O Christ, for our salvation.
Eternal God, Holy Trinity, bless us as we worship.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
Holy One, Loving Mystery,
we belong in you; we open ourselves to your presence.
We are your Beloved; we open ourselves to your Word.
We are vessels of your Spirit; we open ourselves to be made new in your grace.
Speak, for we are listening. Amen.

2.
Mystery of God, enfold us.
Body of Mercy, lay your hand upon us.
Breath of God, move in us.
Energy of Love, re-create us us.
Word of Truth, speak to us.
Fire of joy, burn in us.
We worship in gratitude and awe.

3.
O Holy Trinity, you open your arms to us and include us in your blessed community. Bless us, that we may enter you; feast with you, and be one with you; that you may live in us, for your sake and the sake of the world. Source of Life, Eternal Word and Spirit of Love, we worship you; Mother, Son and Holy Spirit, we listen for your Word. Amen.

4.
Eternal God, you are present with us, and you are speaking to us. We open the windows of our hearts, so that the light of your Word will stream in and make beautiful all that within us. Speak, for your people are listening. Amen.

5.
Calm our minds, God, and still our hearts.
Bring us to your table, to delight in your presence, and to feast on your Word.
Be with us in speaking and in silence, in understanding and in wonder,
in our time together and beyond. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Eternal One, you contain us.
Loving One, you come to us.
Life-Giving One, you empower us.
In your mystery we open ourselves;
in your presence we listen;
in your love we are ready.

Poetry

       God is also not a rock

but a certain dancing
color under the river
where the light and the water
and the flowing happen
movement mingling
a murmur of curves
indefinite
but certain

outlines surrender and
the stone flows
the color of fish
also where you do not see it
and where the fish is
there is only a ripple
a dapple a shadow
a light

making everything
even later and far away
ocher and purple and blue
and flowing.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
         We live in you, God, infinite and eternal Creator and Source of all: you made us and all Creation out of yourself, made us of love, and made us for love.
         We follow you, Christ, love of God made flesh, our brother and companion. In Jesus of Nazareth, in the Crucified and Risen One, you show us the invisible God; you walk beside us; you heal, forgive and call us. Teacher and Savior, you direct our lives.
         We live by your grace, Holy Spirit: Love flowing in us from your infinite heart to all the world. In our communion in you we are One, the Body of Christ, raised from death to eternal life. By your power in us we live lives of love and justice, healing and reconciliation. Mother, Son and Holy Spirit, we worship you; we follow you; we open ourselves to your grace. Amen.

2.
         We give our hearts to you, O Loving Mystery, Father and Mother, Creator of all that is and all that is to come, unseen yet present in every place and time.
         We love you and trust you, Jesus Christ our brother, embodied Love of God, our savior and our teacher. You enter our life; you share our journey, even our sufferings: you were crucified and raised again, so that sharing our human nature we may share your divine nature.
         We live by your grace, Holy Spirit, breath of God in us, emerging energy of love. You lead us to live lives of compassion, courage, justice and beauty. You make us one with each other and with all living things. You are our Breath, our Life, our Loving. Mother, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we are yours. Alleluia and Amen.

3.
         We believe in God, the Holy Trinity. God is eternal Mystery, infinite and unknowable, who contains and transcends all, creator and ruler of all that is and that ever shall be.
         And God is love embodied in Christ, finite and vulnerable. We see the fullness of God’s love in Jesus, fully human and fully divine. We see God in his loving, his teaching, his gathering a community, in his dying and his rising.
         And God is Holy Spirit, alive in us, empowering us to love and to heal, to live lives of peace and justice, and to make of all nations disciples on the Way of God.
         Holy Triune God, all praise be yours, now and for eternity. Alleluia!

Eucharistic Prayer

[After the introduction, the body of the prayer may be read responsively with the presiding leader(s) and congregation, or by the leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

Eternal God, we thank you for the universe you create.
We thank you for your presence in our lives.
We thank you for the gift of salvation.
We thank you for your will for justice,
and your liberation of the oppressed.
We thank you for the gift of Jesus.
Holy Mystery of Love, with all creation we sing your praise!

            [Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
        Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
        heaven and earth are full of your glory.
        Hosanna in the highest.
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
        Hosanna in the highest.
               [or alternate version]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ,
Word made flesh, love made real.
Conceived and led by your Spirit,
he taught and healed, fed the hungry, and honored the outcast.
Infinite love in mortal form, he was crucified;
but infinitely alive with the Spirit, he was raised.
He comes among us to renew your Covenant to be with us always in love.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

             [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
one in your grace, radiant with your love,
and empowered by your Spirit
for the sake of the healing of the world.
Mother and Father, Son, and Spirit,
we thank you and bless you.

     [Spoken or sung]
Amen.

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
1.
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) In gratitude, we give you our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace, and use them according to your will. Send us into the world, radiant with your mystery, alive with your Spirit, aflame with your love, to be your disciples and to make disciples of others. Be with us always, to the end of the age. Amen.

2.
Eternal One, enfold us in your mystery. Loving One, make us whole in your grace. Present One, empower us for lives of mercy and justice, in the name of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)


God Beyond, Within, Among (Tune: For the Beauty of the Earth)

Holy God, great Trinity, source of all things good and true,
Gracious, Blessed Mystery, now we come to worship you.
God beyond, within, among: hear us sing our thankful song.

God, Creator, Womb of Life, whose eternal love and power
gather Earth and bring forth light, re-create us in this hour.
God beyond, within, among: hear us sing our thankful song.
Christ, our, brother, meet us here; touch our wounded hearts and heal.

Word of God, made close and clear, in your grace your truth reveal.
God beyond, within, among: hear us sing our thankful song.
Holy Spirit, Breath within, Wind of Heaven, gentle Dove,
make us holy, save from sin, fill our hearts with perfect love.

God beyond, within, among: hear us sing our thankful song.
Blessed, Holy Trinity, in your image and your power
we are your community; re-create us in this hour.
Holy God, we worship you! Take our lives and make them new.


God Eternal, Holy Trinity (Tune: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus)

God Eternal, Holy Trinity, Father-Mother, Spirit, Son,
Gracious Mystery, Loving Family, you have baptized us as one.
Sharing life at your kitchen table, feeding us with generous grace,
send us now into the world, one with all the human race.

Christ, our Brother, Guide and Teacher, Savior, Healer, Living Word:
we are baptized in your dying, in your rising, love out-poured.
You have fed us with the outcast, raised us to new life in you;
send us now to love our neighbors, with your Presence in all we do.

Holy Spirit, Bright Companion, Breath of Life that lives in us,
we are baptized in your power, grace to share your love and peace.
Send us now as your living Body, radiant with your infinite grace.
Lead us, guide us, bless and sustain us. May our living be your praise!


God of Creation, Birthing us Daily (Tune: Morning Has Broken)

God of Creation, birthing us daily,
granting salvation, making things new,
thanks for your blessing gladly we give you,
freely confessing our love for you.

Healing, forgiving, Jesus you touch us.
Bless all our living; grant us delight.
Jesus our brother, help us live gently,
love one another, trust in God’s light.

Grant us our living, great Holy Spirit,
faithfully giving hearts made of praise:
baptized in glory, servants of Jesus,
living your story all of our days.

God our Creator, You Gather Us Here (Tune: Be Thou My Vision)

God our Creator, you gather us here,
you who release us from bondage and fear,
you who make all things, and make all things new,
gladly we sing our thanksgiving to you.

Light of the world, Christ, you healed the blind,
freed us from chains of oppression that bind,
died with our dying! Our life is in you:

Spirit, unite us, and make our hearts new.
Help us by grace to live lives that are true,
touch with your healing and see with your sight,
live in your pure love and shine with your light.

(Communion verse:)
Christ, by your Body and Blood, present here,
make of one Body your people so dear,
taken, blessed, broken and given, all free,
so all may have life, and abundantly.

Holy Mystery (Tune: Of the Father’s Love Begotten)

Holy Mystery, we worship you, Holy Three in One,
God beyond our understanding, Mother, Spirit and the Son,
Holy Love, Beloved, and the flowing Love between,
never ending or begun.

God, our infinite Creator, Source of all and ending too,
Holy Lover eternal, all around and in and through,
Love that flows in us, and in whom we all are one:
we find ourselves in you.

Infinite, eternal Love unseen, Love made flesh on earth,
Love that burns within our hearts, in whom all have infinite worth,
Mother, Son and Holy Spirit: we worship y0u in awe,
and receive new birth. Amen.


O Holy Trinity (Tune: Finlandia)

O Holy One, O Mystery beyond us,
we praise you, God, O Grace without a name.
Creator of the universe within you,
source of our life, Thou Infinite Divine,
unseen, unknown, we cannot frame or bind you,
only our wonder and our praise proclaim.

O Loving One, O Love who made the heavens,
you choose to come among us as our own,
the Living Word, in flesh revealed, Companion,
stranger and Friend, whose suff’ring is your throne.
Eternal Christ who humbly dies among us,
your tender mystery in love is known.

O Living One, O Grace who lives in our life,
we can’t contain you, but we can adore.
Spirit of Love beyond, beside, within us,
into our hearts your healing presence pour.
Many and One, O Mystery, Christ and Spirit,
we sing, we live your praise forevermore.

June 7, 2026

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 12.1-9. God calls Abram to go to “a land I will show you.” “I will make of you a great nation.. so you will be a blessing.” (soon to become Abraham) from his native land to the land of Canaan. God promises that Abram will have land and many descendants, and especially that they will be a blessing to all on earth.

Psalm 33.1-12. A song of praise to God, who is the maker of all Creation and the ruler of all nations.

Romans 4.13-25. God’s acceptance of us comes by God’s grace, not our own doing. Faith does not mean being good enough, it means trusting God. Abraham was accepted by God as righteous, not because he obeyed some law, but because he trusted God.

Matthew 9.9-13, 18-26. Jesus calls Matthew. He then heals the woman with a flow of blood and raises the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue

Preaching Thoughts

Genesis
        This is a story about trusting God. A story about how a relationship with God isn’t about “believing in” God but listening to God, and going with God. A story about allowing God to lead us into the unseen, unknown. A story about leaving behind the familiar, adapting to change. A story about how following God changes who we are (even if we don’t get a new name). We become “great”— not significant or powerful but honorable, magnificent even. And about how all this—even our “greatness”— leads to one thing: being a great blessing.

Gospel
Matthew.
       As with Abram and Sarai, Matthew the tax collector is called not just to believe in Jesus but to follow him. Go with him. Join him in his ministry. Which, we can imagine, greatly changes who Matthew is.
Eating with sinners.
       Jesus has one single lesson: Trust God and be kind. Trust God to be kind, and trusting that grace, pass it on to everyone else. Everyone. Jesus is especially aware of the hierarchies and power structures by which we determine who we “ought” to love and who we “ought” not to love. He erases those boundaries and dismantles those power structures and hierarchies. (“Do not judge,” he says.) So of course he shows special kindness to the people who are not afforded kindness by their society. And of course the stewards of the hierarchies and power structures, as always, resist that; they like being on top. This is precisely what gets Jesus crucified. Love destroys power structures, and power structures seek to destroy love. This is the real cosmic battle: not some abstract war between “good” and “evil,” but the conflict between universal love and structures of exclusion.
“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
       Jesus quotes Hosea 6.6 twice (also in 12.7). I think it’s central to his theology: God doesn’t care if we get religious forms correct, or believe the right things; what God cares about is that we love.
Two healings.
      • This is first of all a story about healing. Imagine what is made whole in the woman’s life besides her body, since she is also considered “unclean:” her relationships, her faith, her self-image (“daughter!”— such a term of endearment!)… I think of the healing of her self-worth: imagine what it’s like for someone who has reason to focus elsewhere to give you undivided time, really pay attention to you, listen to your story. I also think about her “flow of blood,” the restoration of her reproductive (creative, life-giving) powers.
       • It’s also a story about the power of faith—understood not as “belief” but as reaching out. Jesus knows nothing about the woman’s religious beliefs; only that she has reached out to him, not certain of the outcome but trusting the process. How much of our spiritual life is reaching out to God (in one form or another), without knowing the outcome, but trusting the process? The woman seems to have “faith” that Jesus can heal her, while the girl’s family doesn’t. (They laugh at Jesus!) But healing comes equally to both. God’s grace is not dependent on our level of belief. Sometimes faith means reaching out even when we doubt.
       • This is also a story about Jesus’ patience, his willingness to be interrupted on an emergency call by a “diversion,” as if it’s actually not a diversion; his willingness to stop and attend to the woman without hurrying off to a “more important” mission. It’s not enough for him for an impersonal healing to happen; he wants a relationship, even if it takes precious time. He’s also patient with a family who laughs at him for his faith; he offers healing despite their cynicism (and maybe ours).
• It’s a story about hidden grace: hidden in a crowd… a need… a passing opportunity… hidden in a girl we think is dead, in a time when we think there is no hope.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Beckoning God, you call us.
All: Wandering Jesus, you invite us to come.
Moving Spirit, you go with us.
Holy One, we follow you, even into the unknown,
so that we may be a blessing.

2.
Leader: Creator God, we praise you.
All: Risen Christ, we greet you.
Holy Spirit, we welcome you.
You call us to follow you, and we see miracles.
A flow of blood healed, the dead raised.
What is unwell in us is mended;
what is dead is brought to life.
Bless us that we may follow closely.
Shape us by your Word, Beloved.
Make us yours.

3.
Leader: God of life and wholeness,
we come to you broken, and our world is broken.
All: We reach out for the hem of your garment.
We come to you longing for healing.
We open ourselves to your mercy.
You come among us full of grace.
We feel your spirit move in us, and we are healed.
And so we bow before you, and in gratitude, humility and wonder
we tell the story of your grace.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of the journey, God of the unknown, you spoke to Abram and Sarai and called them to a new place. Speak to us now. Call us, and we will follow. Amen.

2.
God of healing, the flow of life in us is disturbed. Heal us. There are parts of our hearts that are dead. Revive us. You have given us gifts that we don’t use. Call us, and we will follow. We pray in the name and the presence of Christ. Amen.

3.
God of love, even as the world presses in on you with all its wants and demands, you walk among us in peace. You radiate your mercy and grace. We open ourselves to your love. We listen for your Word to enter us and change us. We reach for the hem of your garment. Enter our longing, and heal us. Amen.

4.
O God, you who called Abram to leave his country and go with you, who in Christ called disciples to follow him, you call to us now. Help us to hear your voice, to leave behind old lives, and to walk with you in new life in your grace. Help us to hear what you are saying to us today, and to respond, by the grace of your Holy Spirit. Amen.

5.
Gracious God, you called Abram to go to a new land. Jesus called Matthew to follow him. Speak to us now and invite us into the journey of your grace. Open the ears of our hearts to hear you calling, so that we may follow in love, in the loving company and healing spirit of Jesus. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Eternal God, Loving Healer,
we reach out to touch
the hem of your garment.
Trusting your grace,
we reach out to touch.
Trusting, we reach.

Poetry

              The flow of blood

The sacred blood that flowed twelve perfect years
was never stanched—the healing was not such.
Drawn by the Heart most wounded, salved in tears
still flowing and too sacred to be touched,
she surged through calloused throngs; and stained his cloak
and heart with dark, unclotted faith, her true
blood sacrifice, her tithe of pain, that spoke
of life within her flowing, flowing through.
Heart pierced, he blessed his new blood-sister’s flow;
they both the holy mystery revealed
of wounds blood-sanctified, in which we know
that life is uncontained, and we are healed.
The cross thus washed in double flow of blood,
the curse thus hemorrhaged, life renewed its tide,
a welling up, a sea released, a flood
of life her tear-stained face could never hide.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

We trust in God, Creator of all things,
who is pure compassion,
who loves us unconditionally,
who is present with us in good times and in bad,
who is our salvation.

We trust in Christ Jesus, who is the embodiment of God’s love,
and the embodiment of humanity,
the lover and healer of our souls,
who saves us by washing away our transgressions,
who teaches us life’s deepest things:
how to pray, how to love,
how to be gentle with each other.

We trust in the Holy Spirit, God’s power flowing in us,
hat comforts the faithful,
empowers us to love as Christ has loved us,
and joins us together as the Body of Christ
in loving service to the world.
We trust in the power of forgiveness,
the reality of resurrection,
and the infinite, eternal life God gives us through love,
to which love we pledge ourselves as followers of Christ.

Eucharistic Prayer

[After the introduction, the body of the prayer may be read responsively with the presiding leader(s) and congregation, or by the leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

God, we thank you, for life flows from you,
and power comes from you.
You walk among us with grace and healing.
You bring life out of death and hope out of despair.
You call us to new paths, and make us new people.
Therefore we reach out to you,
to touch the hem of your garment, to receive your grace.
And power flows from you, and we are made whole.
Therefore with all Creation we sing your praise.

            [Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
        Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
        heaven and earth are full of your glory.
        Hosanna in the highest.
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
        Hosanna in the highest.
               [or alternate version]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ,
who healed and taught, who fed the hungry and honored the outcast.
He has brought healing into our lives.
What was dead in us he has brought to life.
Christ, crucified and risen, comes to us in this meal
to reaffirm your covenant to be with us in love forever.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

             [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
the flow of life in us restored,
radiant with the power of love.
As you called Abram and Sarai to follow you,
as Jesus called Matthew to follow,
may this meal call us forth in your love.
May we bear your grace, for the healing of the world,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ.

     [Spoken or sung]
Amen.

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) In gratitude we give you our gifts as symbols of our lives. Receive them with love, bless them with grace and use them according to your will. By your life-giving Word and your loving presence, lead us into the world to new places, trusting you in the unknown, for the sake of the blessing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.

June 14, 2026

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 18. 1-15. Three visitors to Abraham and Sarah tell them that they will have a son—news so preposterous that Sarah laughs.

Psalm 116. A song of thanks to God: “When I was brought low God saved me.”

Romans 5. 1-8. Since we are justified, we have peace with God. Suffering leads to hope because God’s love has been poured into us. While we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.

Matthew 9.35 – 10.8 Jesus goes about healing. The harvest is plentiful; the laborers are few. The sending of the twelve.

Preaching Thoughts

Genesis
      Like a TV series that ends each episode with a cliff-hanger leading you on to the next episode, Genesis gives us a cliff-hanger in each generation: will God fulfill the covenant to give Abraham descendants? Here’s the first. Abraham and Sarah are old, and—dun dun dun—still no children. The visitors announce otherwise. What angels announce hope in your world? Who are the visitors we might host and “entertain angels unawares?” What signs do you see that God continues to uphold a covenant of mercy despite how messed up the world is? Sarah laughing reminds me of the family of the dead girl who laugh at Jesus before he raises her. What good news might we tend to laugh at that maybe we should take seriously?

Romans
     Watch out for the old Puritan notion that suffering is good. Suffering is not inherently good—but like everything it is a locus of grace. Paul invites us to look beyond our immediate pain to the greater story we’re part of, and trust it even when we’re in the middle of a hard chapter. Remember, hope isn’t wishing, not belief that “everything will be OK, “ but trust in the Goodness of God, “the love that’s been poured into our hearts,” regardless of how things turn out for us. It’s the big picture of God’s love that is our hope, and that doesn’t disappoint us. Jesus makes that love for us accessible to us, in that he dies for us even though we might think of ourselves as “unworthy.” When we let this grace sink in it allows us to restore our trust in God. This trust sustains us even through suffering.
      “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us.” God’s hope is not that we will become Christian, but that we will know we are loved. That’s what it means to be “justified.” To save us from the tyranny of our anxious, selfish ego, Jesus dies for us, destroying the notion of being”worthy” or “unworthy, and from being afraid of “the wrath of God.” We’re not saved from God, but from our own fear of unworthiness.

Matthew
       The lectionary continues the theme of our calling into ministry. Jesus’ healing tour looks very different from a “crusade” trying to get people to become Christian. We are sent (the word “apostle” means “sent”) to be the good news of the Reign of God, to cure the sick (heal what is broken), raise the dead (embody resurrection, empower the powerless and bring hope where there is despair), cleanse lepers (embrace outcasts) and cast out demons (confront injustice). It’s for the sake of the healing of the world, not the stuffing of the church. The “harvest” we’re sent out to labor in is not dragging people into the church, but participating in God’s harvest of the gifts God has planted in each person, gifts made fruitful by the Spirit, with our encouragement. Who are the “lost sheep” we’re sent to?
     By the way, don’t think we’re any less lost than those sheep. Jesus inclines us toward humility and dependence. “You received without pay, give without pay.” In verses 9-15, omitted from the lectionary reading, Jesus gives us an image of humble dependency. Take no gold, stay with the people, give them your blessing, accept it when they don’t return the blessing. He also goes on to warn us of the resistance we’ll meet. Working for the mending of the world, working for justice, is no privileged position, but a vulnerable one. But be of good courage; the Spirit will sustain you.

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: God, you are in this world with love and grace.
All: You heal us when we are broken and cleanse us of our shame.
You cast out the demons of injustice and embrace the outcast.
You raise the dead, giving power to the powerless and hope to the despairing.
You have called disciples, and sent them into the world in love.
You call us now to come close, and we come. Alleluia!

2.
Leader: Eternal God, Spirit of Love, we worship you.
All: Creating God, Renewing God, we worship you.
Transforming God, Bewildering God, we worship you.
Disorienting, Re-orienting God, we worship you.
Come, upset our ways and reshape us according to your Spirit. Amen.

3.
Leader: God of love, we seek healing: wholeness for our bodies.
All: Come to us, enfold us in your grace, and send us forth, renewed.
We seek hope: fruitfulness for our lives.
Come to us, enfold us in your grace, and send us forth, renewed.
We seek courage: power to carry your grace into the world.
Come to us, enfold us in your grace, and send us forth, renewed. Amen.

4.
Leader: Holy One, you claim us as your own and call us to serve you.
All: Beloved, receive us with love.
Living Christ, you send us out to share your grace.
Beloved, transform us with love.
Holy Spirit, you empower us with gifts for healing.
Beloved, send us with love.
The world awaits. May it be for us according to your word. Amen.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1. (Genesis)
God of grace and mystery, you hold us faithfully your Covenant. Your love upholds us, your grace moves ahead of us, your mercy comes to us in surprising ways. Open our hearts to welcome the message of your promise, and to trust your blessing. We pray in the name and the Spirit of Jesus. Amen.

2.
(Romans)
Loving God, our deep distrust separates us from you, but you reach out to us in our fear with love and grace. You forgive us; you heal us; you bless us. We open our hearts to your Spirit, that the good news of your love might sink in and change us. Creator God, make us new. Loving Christ, come and speak to us. Holy Spirit, give us new life. Amen.

3. (Matthew)
God of love, you who called disciples and sent them: gather us now, equip us for your service, and send us in your name for the sake of the healing of the world, in the loving presence and the healing spirit of Christ. Amen.

4. (Matthew)
Eternal God, Jesus gathered his disciples, blessed them with his teachings, and sent them out to join in his work of the blessing of the world. Gather us now and transform us by your Word, so that we will be ready to go out into the world to serve you, in the grace of the Hoy Spirit and in the name of Christ. Amen

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

As the strange visitors
who bring promise to Sarai and Abram,
you come to us.
We welcome you.
Sit with us,
bring us news from God.

Readings

Psalm 86 – a paraphrase [1-7, 8-13, 14-17]

Sung Response:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.

Listen to me, God, and speak to me,
         not according to my worthiness but according to your love.
I trust you to give me life.
         It is you my heart longs for all day long.
Give me joy, as I enter into your joy.
         I give you my soul.
For you are good and forgiving,
         abounding in steadfast love.
Hear the secrets of my heart, God,
         the unspoken longings of my soul.
When I am troubled, I turn to you,
         and you are there.                   …Response

O God, you are great, and do wondrous things.
You alone are God.
Teach me your way, O God,
that I may walk in your truth.
Give me an undivided heart,
to be mindful of your presence.
I give thanks to you, God, with my whole heart.
I will live as your glory all my life.
For great is your steady love toward me:
you have saved my soul from its dreary death.     …Response

O God, arrogance rises up in me;
 self-centeredness threatens to take over my life.
But you are merciful and gracious,
         slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
Turn to me and be gracious to me;
give me strength to faithfully serve you.
Show me a sign of your favor,
         to put my doubts to rest—
         for always you have helped me and comforted me.     …Response

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
         [based on Romans 5.1-8]
Leader: As children of God we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
All: Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through the Beloved, Jesus Christ,
who shows us God’s great love for us,
in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
God’s love has been poured into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
We give thanks, and we give God our lives,
that we may live in peace with God and with all people,
in the name of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

2.
         We love and trust God, Eternal Creator, the Source of all Being and the giver of the laws of life, whose word of love is unchanging, though our understanding is imperfect and incomplete.
         We follow Jesus, God’s Christ, who embodied God’s love, who taught and healed, who enacted God’s law of love in new and radical ways. He gave himself completely in love; he was crucified; yet God raised him from death, transforming the law, and even life and death. He sets us free and leads us in lives of radical self-giving.
         We live by the Holy Spirit, the living breath of God in us, who empowers us to live lives of grace and compassion, trusting in the power of forgiveness, the blessing of community, the reality of resurrection and the coming of God’s Reign of mercy and justice. In all, we give God thanks, and we give God our lives. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

[After the introduction, the body of the prayer may be read responsively with the presiding leader(s) and congregation, or by the leader(s) alone.]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

We thank you, God, for your faithful love.
You create us in your image, promise to be with us in love,
and deliver us from all that enslaves us.
When we least expect it you send us signs of your mercy,
angels who remind us of your promise.
You come among us with healing and redemption.
Therefore in gratitude, with all Creation, we sing your praise.

            [Sanctus, spoken or sung:]
        Holy, holy, holy One, God of power and might,
        heaven and earth are full of your glory.
        Hosanna in the highest.
        Blessed is the one who comes in the name of God.
        Hosanna in the highest.
               [or alternate version]

Blessed are all who come in your name,
and blessed is Jesus, your Christ,
who healed and taught, who cast out injustice,
who embodied the Realm of your grace among us.
Opposed by the powers of injustice, he was crucified
but you raised him from the dead, still to be with us in mercy.

     (The Blessing and Covenant)
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.
Therefore, remembering these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice,
in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

             [Memorial Acclamation, spoken or sung:]
        Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.
                     —or—
        Dying, Christ destroyed our death. Rising, Christ restores our life.
        Christ will come again in glory.
             [or alternative]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Spirit on us, that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
sent into the world to heal the broken,
to confront the demons of injustice,
and to show through our lives
the coming of your Realm of grace and love,
for the sake of the mending of the world.

     [Spoken or sung]
Amen.

____________
* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
1.
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) Gracious God, we thank you for this mystery in which you have given yourself to us. May this meal call us to mindfulness of your presence, attentiveness to your Word, and readiness to serve you. Send us into the world to bless, to heal, and to proclaim your good news, in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

2.
God of love, you gifted Sarah and Abraham with a child to bring into the world. You have given us spiritual gifts to share. As Jesus gave his disciples authority to heal, to proclaim your grace and to confront the demons of injustice, you call us to bear our gifts for the sake of the healing of the world. Send us in the power of your Spirit and the company of Christ., who is with s always Amen.

3.
The gift of God’s promise be within you,
growing and vibrant as a child.
The grace of God’s gifts be within you,
the power to heal and to bless.
The authority of the Word be within you,
the courage to love and to do justice.
The Spirit of God be within you,
the strength to make you serve,
and the joy to make you laugh. Amen

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)

Three Strangers       (Tune: DOVE OF PEACE – I Come with Joy)

Three strangers came to Abraham and Sarah in their age,
and told them God had plans for them, a promise to engage,
a promise to engage.

So Sarah laughed and Abraham, he knit his furrowed brow:
“How could this come to us?” he said, “How could this happen now?
How could this happen now?”

So God appears and promises new life for us as well,
and gives us joy so that we laugh. Such happy news to tell!
Such happy news to tell!

God promises new life in us, and love and joy to bear,
and gives us gifts and blessings dear, the grace of God to share,
the grace of God to share.

June 21, 2026

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 21.8-21. Abraham and Sarah, unable to conceive an heir, have used Sarah’s servant Hagar as a concubine to produce a child, a son named Ishmael. But once Sarah has a son of her own she comes to resent Hagar and Ishmael, and has Abraham send them away. But God cares for them.

Psalm 86. We rejoice in God’s steadfast love and pray for an “undivided heart:” for singular mindfulness of God’s presence, undistracted by other things. We seek to walk in God’s ways.
       —or:
Psalm 17. The psalm cries out, as Hagar might have, for God’s compassion.

Romans 6.1-11. We were buried with Christ by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of God, so we also might walk in newness of life. We are dead to sin and alive to God.

Matthew 10.24-39. The disciple is like the teacher. They malign me, and so they will you. Have no fear of them. What you hear in the dark, proclaim in the light. Fear not those who kill the body, but the soul. Not a sparrow falls outside God’s attention. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than sparrows. I have come to bring not peace but a sword. Find you life and lose it; lose your life and find it.

Preaching Thoughts

Genesis        
      Here’s the ugly side of our culture and even of our faith: we exclude, or even
use and discard people for our own benefit, and attribute it to God, or at least to “the way it ought to be.” We perpetuate a triple evil: we use people selfishly and exclude them and cause them suffering; we blame it all on them as if it is all their choice, their wrongdoing; and we attribute it all to God’s will! From a self-serving stance we might claim this story is about God continuing to preserve Abraham’s genetic line—but that’s exactly the sin we should confess: pretending that God wills other people’s suffering for our sake. It’s the shadow side of the notion of “election,” that God has chosen Israel for a specific purpose in human history. “Election” is not “preference.” Israel is not chosen because they’re better or more important than other nations but because God has a specific task for them, which is for the world to be blessed by them (Genesis 12.3). Our error—our temptation—is to believe our mission or survival is more important to the world and to God than other people’s. It taps into the basic human sin of “pride”— thinking it’s all about us. It gives rise to unjust systems of privilege and exclusion. It’s the thinking that justifies slavery and war and rape and unfettered capitalism and all kids of evil.
        Delores Williams points out in her book Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk that Hagar’s experience matches that of black enslaved women in America. She writes, “Hagar’s predicament involved slavery, poverty, ethnicity, sexual and economic exploitation, surrogacy, rape, domestic violence, homelessness, motherhood, single-parenting and radical encounters with God” (p.4). Of course such experiences are familiar to contemporary Black women in America.More broadly, Hagar is everyone who is used and abused, who is discarded, judged, excluded or looked down upon, who is blamed for her troubles: victims of domestic abuse, the working poor, immigrants and refugees…. It takes some moral numbness to avoid seeing the image of Hagar and Ishmael wasting away in refugee camps, o rin the desert trying to cross the US border. Where are the Hagars in your world?
      From Sarah’s perspective the story ends with Hagar and Ishmael disappearing into the desert. But that’s not how the story ends, does it? God accompanies them, hears them, tends to them, and promises the same thing that God promises Abraham: to make a great nation of them. As Delores Williams points out, God does not enact liberation for Hagar, but God does offer survival and quality of life. How might God be calling us to join in God’s promise and help care for the Hagars and Ishmaels of our world, to accompany the desert wanderers, to be the ones who hear and have compassion, who encourage and equip people to become great?
      This story isn’t exactly about domestic violence but it brings it up. It’s a story about a household that is not safe. It’s about one person’s will dominating another’s well-being.
       Click here for Domestic Violence worship resources.

Romans
      “Should we continue to sin?” Believe it or not, I’ve actually been asked, “Since everybody is saved, why be good?” Seriously? Why be bad? The thing is, God’s love changes us. When we know how deeply we are loved we don’t want to sin. God’s grace is so life-giving we want to live in harmony with it. We want to be loving.
        When I really absorb God’s love it changes me. Like when you take a cup of hot water and add tea, it’s no longer water; it’s tea. When God’s love is poured into me, it’s as if my old self-centered self becomes a new love-centered self. The old one dies (buried with Christ by baptism into death), and a new, different one is resurrected instead.
       Baptism is an invitation to that change. Baptism doesn’t magically change us, but it reminds us of God’s promise to give us new life when we give God our old ones. Baptism symbolizes the life-cycle of faith: our little self-enclosed self drowns in God’s love, and God gives us a new self made out of pure love. Resurrection isn’t just the after-life, it’s the now-life, the new-life: when we surrender our lives to God in love, God gives them back to us as a gift. This death-and-resurrection cycle isn’t a one-time thing: we go through it every day, every moment, continually giving our life to God and receiving life anew. Like breathing. (This doesn’t call for re-baptism, but renewal of our baptismal vows. God has already claimed us. We’re the ones who need to renew our faithfulness, breath by breath.)

Matthew
       Jesus warns us that if we imitate him the people who criticize him will also criticize us: “How much more will they malign those of his household!” (But remember, it’s not about us.) The sword Jesus brings certainly isn’t physical violence: he’s talking about controversy and opposition. I think of Hebrews 4.12: “The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart..” It’s the sword of discerning truth from falsehood, love from fear. It’s not a weapon of aggression, or even polarization, but the sword of refusing to “go along to get along,” standing for what we stand for even when others oppose us. In fact the sword might even be our radical insistence that we are one despite other people’s desire to polarize!
       If we boldly take the side of truth and love and mercy, others, even those close to us, will oppose us. Never mind them, Jesus says. Stay true. God, who cares for even the birds, will watch over us. Don’t worry about people who threaten you. Worry about what can bring death to your soul. If we are willing to let go of our place in society—if we take up our cross—if we lose that form of “life”—we will be given even deeper life. Having died and risen, as Paul suggests, we are free from fear for our physical or social well being, and have the courage to do justice, love radically, and serve boldly. We’re really alive.

Call to Worship

1. [Matthew]
Leader: In this world of struggle and conflict we turn to God.
All: God of love, we need you.
Friends, not a sparrow suffers without God knowing,
and you, beloved, are worth more than many sparrows.
God of love, we trust you.
Those who cling to their life will lose it,
and those who lose their life for Christ’s sake will find it.
God of love, we give ourselves to you.
Receive us, transform us, and fit us for your service,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

2. [Genesis]
Leader: Glory be to you, God of all people,
you who have made us as siblings in one family.
All: Thanks be to you, Christ of compassion:
when we were lonely and cast out, you claimed us as your own.
Praise be to you, Spirit, for when we were in danger you saved us.
Come again, and make us your own.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

3. [Matthew]
Leader: Creator God, we praise you!
All: Risen Christ, we greet you!
Holy Spirit, we are one body by your grace.
Alleluia! Christ, you call us to follow,
through difficult times and choices.
Grant us faith and courage. Alleluia!

4. [Psalm 86]
Leader: Listen, O God, for we are poor and needy.
All: Save us, for we rely on you.
We open our souls to you. Give us joy.
For you are good and forgiving,
abounding in steadfast love to all who turn to you.
Be gracious to us and give us your strength.
For you are merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Alleluia.

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
Gracious God, giver of life , lover of all beings, we live within your embrace, and our hearts are filled with wonder at your presence. We set aside this gentle time to listen to you, and to rest in your care. Speak to us, and shape our hearts by the power of your Word. Amen.

2.
Loving God, you have baptized us into Christ’s death and resurrection, so that we may live new lives. Death no longer has dominion over us. Remind us again. As we tell the story of your love, let us die to sin so that we may freely and fully live for your sake, not for our own ease. As we worship, speak your good news to us, so that we may follow Jesus with faith and courage, in the power of your Spirit. Amen.

3.
God of love, may your grace give us faithfulness.
Christ, may your love give us courage.
Holy Spirit, may your presence give us trust.
Loving God, in a world that is afraid of love,
help us to be loving. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Like Hagar under a tree in the wilderness,
in solitude and need,
I sit with the infant of my hopes.
Hear the voice of my heart
and speak to me.
Lead me to the well of your love.

Prayer of Confession

Most merciful God, we confess our sin
we have not been the people you created us to be.
We have suppressed wonder and gratitude;
we have withheld love;
we have lived by fear.
Receive us, forgive us, and heal us,
that we may truly be your children,
and truly be sisters and brothers of all people,
in the name and the Spirit of Christ.
Amen.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
       We trust in God, the maker of all things, source of all life and Mother of all children. Our life is in God, and in God we are one with all beings.
        We follow Jesus, the Christ, the Revealer of God, who taught us to love, who gave us courage to trust God’s grace, and who bid us to take up our cross and follow him. In his life and ministry and his death and resurrection, he has shown us that in losing our lives we find them. He who was crucified is the Ruler of the Universe.
        We rely upon the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, the communion of saints, the unity of the church, the forgiveness of sin, the resurrection of the body, and the reality of eternal life.
        Therefore we devote ourselves to disciplined practice of the Way of Jesus in our daily lives, so that we may grow in faithfulness, and serve God in humble, confident love for the sake of the healing of the world. Amen.

2.
         We love and trust God, Creator of all things, heavenly father and mother, of infinite love, wisdom and power, ruler of all that is and all that is to come.
        We follow Christ, God’s chosen one, who loved and served humbly, who chose to die rather than kill for the sake of the healing of all Creation, and who was raised by God to new life. We believe that he calls us to humbly follow him and obediently serve him for the sake of proclaiming God’s grace. We trust that he accompanies us and will help, guide, heal and defend us through all difficulty and suffering.
        We believe the Holy Spirit guides us, empowers us and sustains us as servants of God’s grace. We live as the body of Christ, in the power of forgiveness and the reality of resurrection, and the light of eternal life. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page.)

             Songs addressing domestic violence:

For Households
(Tune: Blest Be the Tie that Binds…
downloadable file also includes a version set to
DETRIOT, Forgive Our Sins As We Forgive.)

For homes where love is shared we give you thanks, O Lord,
where all your children hear your grace and know they are adored.

We pray for homes where fear and hurt and loneliness stay.
For those abused, unsure, not free, your blessing, God, we pray.

As when from Egypt slaves escaped and crossed the Sea,
God, make a way and go with those who are becoming free.

God, give us hearts to speak, to break the silent shield
that covers the hurt, protecting the sin: so violence may be healed.

God help your church to be a home, a healing place,
where all are free and whole and blest and honored in your grace.

When Fear Lives Close      (Tune: GIFT OF LOVE / The Water Is Wide)


We pray for those who live in fear,
where secret hurt and shame live near,
that they may know your loving grace,
and find their way to freedom’s space.

And God of love, we pray for those
whose inner darkness overflows,
that those who wound, control or use
may be healed, too, their demons lose.

We pray, O God, that we may be
your gentle ones who set them free,
with deep respect, with love and prayer,
create a world of gentle care.

June 28, 2026

Lectionary Texts

Genesis 22.1-14. Abraham sets out to sacrifice his son Isaac, but offers a ram instead.

Psalm 13 is a cry for help: “how long must I suffer pain in my soul?”— that soon turns to a song of trust: “I will sing to the Lord, who has dealt bountifully with me.”

Romans 6.12-23. Present yourselves as instruments of righteousness. We are no longer slaves of sin, but slaves of righteousness. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ.

Matthew 10.40-42. Whoever receives your receives the One who sent me. One who gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones will have their reward.

Preaching Thoughts

Fourth of July
      It’s increasingly important to craft worship around the 4^th of July that evokes gratitude for our nation, which is appropriate, without veering off into American nationalism, which is anti-Christian. God is the God of all nations, not just one. The Kingdom of God is not, nor is it even like, any earthly nation, government, state, system or power structure. The “God and country” slope is slippery. God is not American, and does not favor one nation over another (even Israel). Nor is America a “Christian” nation. Neither our country nor our policies are shaped by or reflect any of Jesus’ teachings. Would that they did! What would our economic, health care and legal system be like if it were founded on healing, forgiveness, generosity, non-violence, welcome of the stranger and care for the poor? This may not be the Sunday to launch into that… but the best we can do sometimes is to avoid promoting the old nationalist religion. (Bear in mind last week’s Gospel, about trusting God amid controversy and opposition.)
      If you really want to face the idolatry of nationalism head on, consider Abraham’s intention to sacrifice Isaac. It may be not just a story about an individual but the story of a cultural change of heart. (See more detail below.) Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice Isaac is a pretty good image of our willingness to sacrifice our young people for the god of war. Maybe God is suggesting an alternative, no?

Genesis
      God had given Abraham and Sarah a son in their old age; Isaac meant not only love and joy for them, but an heir and the continuation of their family line. So Isaac also meant the means of the fulfillment of God’s promise to give them great descendants. Now God asks Abraham to sacrifice Isaac! What will Abraham do? What will God do?…
       It’s hard not to see this story through our modern lens of horror at the thought of murdering one’s child. But in the context of the story in Genesis, it’s not about Isaac; it’s about Abraham, and whether he’s willing to give up what is most precious to him to serve God. What do you hold back? What are you more attached to than God?
      Tread carefully here, for a couple of reasons. One, what Abraham is asked to sacrifice isn’t just his: it’s the life of someone else. It’s Issac who’s really making the sacrifice. Abraham thinks of sacrificing someone or something else, but not himself. But when God asks us to sacrifice something it’s something of ours, not someone else’s. Further, I don’t think God asks us to sacrifice anything just for the sake of proving our faithfulness to God. In fact often what we care most about is a sign of what God wants. But there are things we need to let go of, even sometimes things we think we can’t live without. This is the experience of letting go of something we’re addicted to. It can feel as wrenching as child sacrifice. But it is for life, not death. What do we actually need to let go of to be more faithful tp God?
      A traditional interpretation here is that God is testing Abraham, and plans to stop the sacrifice of Isaac at the last moment. (Another is that God intends it to go forward, but Abraham’s faith converts God at the last minute.) But another is this: maybe Abraham has it wrong from the beginning. God never did want him to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham just thought that’s what he heard. Maybe, more often than we think, we’re wrong in our certainty about what God asks of us, and God has to interrupt us before we do something harmful. What are the Isaacs we set out to sacrifice—and how do we listen for God to re-direct our sacrificing?
      I think it’s likely this is not the story not of an individual event but a narrative of a culture, personified in Abraham, coming to reject the child sacrifice it used to accept, and change its ways of worship. What night this story say about our lives—personal, religious and political: what God is asking us to change?

Psalm
      The psalm gives voice to our feeling of being abandoned by God, yet trusts in God’s grace. As in all lament psalms, our complaint gives way to gratitude before we have even received the blessings we yearn for. Hope is not wishing for positive outcomes. It’s trusting in God’s grace no matter what the outcome.

Romans
      Paul speaks of choosing to live as “slaves of righteousness” instead of “slaves of sin.” That might grate against our modern (“woke”) sensibilities: we shouldn’t be slaves to anything, should we? Well, in fact we are slaves. In our natural, unenlightened state we are pushed and pulled about by all sorts of unconscious fears, desires, attachments, habits, beliefs and emotional reactions. We’re not actually freely choosing our behavior: we’re slaves of our unconscious garbage. And we fool ourselves if we think we can just be free to choose whatever we piously choose. Then we’re slaves to the illusion of our independence, strength, wisdom, and self-governance. It’s our own ego. And we’ll still be controlled by our own inner agendas, and unable to free ourselves. It feels like a huge sacrifice (think of Abraham) to give up our illusion of self-control. But that’s the way out. The 12 steps of AA describe the it: “1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol [or sin]— that our lives had become unmanageable. 2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.”

When we give ourselves over to God we let God’s grace be the determining factor in our choices. We acknowledge we can’t live righteously on our own: we submit our selves to a higher power. A recovering alcoholic chooses to be a slave of sobriety. A Christian chooses to be a slave of grace. That’s actual freedom.

Matthew
      It’s not about you. When people reject you for being loving they’re not actually rejecting you, they’re rejecting love. When people receive you they’re receiving God. It’s still not about you. So “whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones” isn’t just being kind to a neighbor, they’re being kind to God. “Whatever you do to the least of these…”

Call to Worship

1.
Leader: Christ says, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me.”
All: God you welcome us into your loving presence and offer us grace.
A cup of cold water.
God, in our need you give gifts to us.
In many hidden ways you bless us.
A cup of cld water given to these, my little ones.
In our thirst for your grace, refresh us once again.
A cup of cold water, given in the name of a disciple.
We drink of your grace; we rest in your presence;
we worship you in humble gratitude.
Make of us your faithful disciples, in the name and the Spirit of Christ. Amen.

2.
Leader: God of All Creation, we worship you.
All: God of this day, we thank you.
God, who dwells in all people, we greet you.
God of the present moment, we open our hearts to you.
We worship in your Spirit, in the name and the company of Christ. Alleluia!

3.
Leader: This is the day which God is creating
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
Holy One, as this moment unfolds, your hand is in it.
We open our hearts to your presence. We open our souls to your Word.
We listen and wait.
Alleluia! Come, Holy Spirit, and transform us by your grace. Alleluia!

4.
Leader: God of all the earth, we worship you.
All: God of all peoples, we thank you.
You create all people in your image, and you bless every land.
God of all peoples, we thank you.
You provide for us, and give us all to each other, for our mutual blessing.
God of all peoples, we thank you. Alleluia!

Collect / Prayer of the Day

1.
God of love, you walk with us each moment. Speak to us now, in scripture, in thoughts, in imagination, in silence. Open our eyes and ears to your wisdom . Amen. 2.Eternal God, you who call us to hear and obey, we still our hearts to listen for your voice, coming to us now, coming to us new, to give us life and set us free. Speak to us, for we are ready. Amen.

3.
Gracious God, Abraham heard your call to sacrifice his son. But then he heard again, and did not. Help us to hear again, to listen continually for your voice. Now help us, as your scripture is read and your good news proclaimed, to hear your Word and change our lives. Help us always, by the grace of your Spirit, to listen. Amen.

4.
God, you called Abraham to sacrifice what was dearest to him to be faithful to you. By your grace help us to let go of everything that holds us back from you. Help us let go, trusting your grace, and cling only to you, in the promise and the presence of Christ. Amen.

5.
God of mercy, you led Abraham and he listened to you. Because he listened, he was bold to do things that took great courage and sacrifice. Because he heard, he acted in harmony with your will, and he was a blessing. By the grace of your Spirit, help us to listen to you now, so that as the scriptures are read and your good news proclaimed, we may gladly hear what you are saying to us today, and follow faithfully. Amen.

Listening Prayer

(suitable as a Collect, preparation for hearing scriptures, or invitation to prayer)

Tender God,
we stand on the mountain of our solitude,
with the Isaac of our loves and attachments in our hands.
We release them to you. We let go,
so that we may truly worship you
by listening for your new word.
Speak, for even with knives in our hands
we are listening.

Prayer of Confession

1.
Gentle, loving God,
we confess that without knowing,
we have tried to live apart from you,
by our own judgment rather than by your grace.
We are sorry, and we repent of our sin.
By the grace of your Spirit within us,
return us to you, forgive us,
and restore in us the mind of Christ.

2.
Gentle, Life-giving God, we confess our sin:
for although we have had the right in our minds,
we have not done your will; we have not heeded your voice.
Speak to us again. Call us to the truth.
Forgive us, open our hearts to your Word,
and set us in your ways, that we may truly do your will,
for the sake of Christ, who died and has risen
so that we may be free. Amen.

Readings

Psalm 13 —A paraphrase

God, have you forgotten me forever?
         Do I even matter to you?
         Why are you so hard to find?
How long will I argue with myself about you,
         this dark pit in my heart all day long?
How long will this dark adversary
         loom over me?
Give me an answer, God—any answer.
         Let there be light in my eyes,
         not this sleep, this death.
I can hear my adversary now: ” I win.”
         I can see them gloat over my lifeless soul.
But I trust your kindness like the earth itself.
         You rescue me, and I rejoice.
I will sing to you, Beloved,
         because you always so lovingly pick me up.

Response / Creed / Affirmation

1.
        We live in you, God, maker of all things. You continually create the universe moment by moment, and you give us life and breath.
         We follow Christ, your love embodied in humanity. He gathered a community and taught them, telling parables of grace; he performed prophetic acts of justice and healing; in love he gave his life; and in grace you raised him to new life. He lives among us still by the mystery of his Spirit in us, so that we ourselves may be parables of his love.
        We live by the power of the Holy Spirit, your life in us, in which we are one, the Church, the Body of Christ. By your Spirit we trust in the power of forgiveness, the reality of resurrection and the mystery of eternal life. Mindful of your presence and your grace, we devote ourselves to lives of gratitude and trust, love and justice, in the name of Christ, for the sake of the healing of the world. Amen.

2.
       We trust in God, creator of all things, ruler of al that is and all that is to come. God is transforming the world into the place of God’s justice and mercy.
       We follow Jesus, who taught and healed, who died and rose, revealing God’s abundant grace. He sent disciples out into the world to proclaim the good news of your grace, to heal, and to participate in the Reign of God in all that we do. He reigns in love over all Creation, and holds all accountable to their faithfulness to God’s rule of grace.
       We rely upon the unfailing grace of God, and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore we devote ourselves to lives of daily prayer, study, service and reflection, following Jesus as our Master, for the sake of the transformation of the world by the grace of God.

3.
       We believe in God, Creator of all things, heavenly father and mother, of infinite love, wisdom and power, ruler of all that is and all that is to come.
       We follow Christ, God’s chosen one, who loved and served humbly, who chose to die rather than kill for the sake of the healing of all Creation, and who was raised by God to new life. We believe that he calls us to humbly follow him and obediently serve him for the sake of proclaiming God’s grace. We trust that he accompanies us and will help, guide, heal and defend us through all difficulty and suffering.
       We believe the Holy Spirit guides us, empowers us and sustains us as servants of God’s grace. We live as the body of Christ, in the power of forgiveness and the reality of resurrection, and the light of eternal life. Amen.

Eucharistic Prayer

[After the introduction, the body of the prayer may be read responsively with the presiding leader(s) and congregation, or by the leader(s) alone.]

[…mindful of the 4^th of July…]

God is with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to God.
Let us give thanks to the Holy One, our God.
It is good and beautiful to give God our praise.

We praise you and thank you, God of all Creation.
You create the earth, one living being, without nations or boundaries.
You create your people, one living family.
This feast comes from the earth, the whole earth giving praise.
This gathering is your people, without division or privilege.
You invite us all, from every people and nation, to gather at your one table.
So with all Creation, with one voice, we praise you and thank you.

[Sanctus]Blessed are all who come in your name, and blessed is Jesus, your Christ.
He loved and taught, he healed and fed the people,
without distinction: Jew and gentile, slave and free.
He established a new nation: the Kingdom of Grace, the Nation of God,
made not by laws or armies but by love.
The empire of his love threatened the powers of this world;
therefore he was crucified. But you raised him from the dead.
He lives among us, inviting us to this table, establishing again your Realm of Love.
[The Blessing and Covenant…]

Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
As often as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection until he comes again.
Remembering these, your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a living and holy sacrifice, in union with Christ’s offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of our faith:

[Memorial Acclamation]

Pour out your Holy Spirit on these gifts of bread and cup,
that they may be for us the body and blood of Christ.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us,
that we may be for the world the Body of Christ,
citizens of a single kingdom, the Realm of your love:
one nation, under your grace, with liberty and justice for all.
[Amen]
__________________

* The Blessing and Covenant
[I usually don’t print the words. I want people to be looking at the bread, not their bulletins.]

On the night in which he gave himself for us
Jesus took bread, blessed it,. broke it, and gave it to his disciples,saying,
“Take and eat; this is my body.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup,
blessed it with thanks and gave it to them, saying,
“Drink of this, all of you. This is my blood,
poured out for you and for many, in a new Covenant,
which is the forgiveness of sin.”
As long as we break this bread and share this cup
we remember his death and resurrection, until he comes again.

Prayer of Dedication / Sending / after Communion

[Adapt as needed.]
1.
Gracious God, we thank you for (the mystery that you give yourself to us / this mystery in which you have given yourself to us.) Our ways of worship and service are always imperfect. But you speak to us in our hearts. May we listen, listen always for your word, to lead us, correct us, guide us, and set us free, for loving service, for the sake of the healing of the world, in the name of Christ. Amen.

2.
Gracious God, you have saved us from the flood of our own sin. You have brought us through the troubling waters to a broad and generous land. In gratitude we give you our lives, symbolized in these gifts. Receive them with love, bless them with grace, and use them according to your will. Send us into the world to extend to others the same holy hospitality of heart that you offer to us. Send us to reach out to those who suffer, who wander, who are without a home for their spirits. Bless us in the Spirit of Christ, and send us in the name of Christ, to do your will. Amen.

Suggested Songs

(Click on titles to view, and hear an audio clip, on the Music page)


God of Mystery    (Abraham’s Song)   (Tune: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence)

God of mystery, always calling,
in my heart your love has stirred,
calling me to follow humbly,
and obey the voice I’ve heard,
giving you my all, my treasure,
trusting in your gracious Word.

God of mystery, still creating,
move my spirit as I pray.
Give me faith to change my living,
paths I’ve followed all my days.
Stay my hand from ill, providing
grace to walk in blessed new ways.

God of mystery, now redeeming,
still is Isaac bound in me?—
dear, yet sacrificed to duty?
Speak your Word and set me free.
Give this child your life, your blessing,
freedom for eternity.