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Woship Resources 2009-2010 — Year C: Live Generously, Love Courageously
Return to Year C: 2009-2010
Resource Index
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Walk Humbly with God
Ordinary Time (Proper 17)
Scriptures: Jeremiah 2:4–13; Psalm 81:1, 10–16; Hebrews
13:1–8, 15–16;
Luke 14:1, 7–14; II Nephi 12:92; Doctrine and Covenants 10:6
Prelude
Welcome
*Call to Worship: Psalm 81:1
Ask one person to act as leader for each side. These people will signal
the congregation to stand and use hand and voice cues to keep the reading
moving briskly with no lagging between lines. Each repetition increases in
intensity. After the Call to Worship move immediately into the scripture and
Prayer for Peace.
Right side: Sing aloud to God our strength!
Left side: Shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
Repeat three times.
Scripture for Peace: II Nephi 12:92
Prayer for Peace
*Hymn: “All Creatures of Our God and King” HS 72
OR “Lord, We Come Before Thee Now” HS 10
OR “I’m Gonna Shout and Sing” NS 20
*Invocation
Transforming God, as we worship together in faith and joy, may our hearts
and minds be opened to discern your Spirit moving in our lives and in our
congregation. Amen.
*Response
Disciples’ Generous Response
Each Sunday, as part of the Disciples’ Generous Response, we ask you to
integrate the message of “share equally” between Local and World Ministries
Mission Tithes. Generosity stories are provided to keep the church in touch
with how contributions to Mission Tithes spread the peace of Jesus Christ.
Please use the stories, testimonies, and up-to-date contribution information
as part of your offertory ministry. Visit
www.CofChrist.org/generositystories to print a copy, or contact your
pastor, congregational financial officer, or worship coordinator for a copy.
Scripture: Hebrews 13:1–2, 5–8, 15–16
Blessing and Receiving of Mission Tithes
Hymn: “Make Me a Servant” sing through twice NS 35
OR “Yesu, Yesu, Fill Us with Your Love” HS 407
OR “Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song” SP 11
Sermon
Based on Luke 14:1, 7–14
Ministry of Music: “What Does the Lord Require of You?” sung by a small
group NS 52
OR Congregational Hymn: “According to the Gifts That God” verses 1, 3, and 4
only HS 363
OR “We Are Your People” SP 34
Scripture for Confessional Reflection: Doctrine and Covenants 10:6
Are we brave enough to ask what the Lord requires of us?
Congregational Prayer
God hears our prayers no matter where we are or what we are doing—whether
we are alone in a quiet place or in a crowded office in the middle of a busy
day. But there is something uniquely powerful in the act of coming before
God on our knees, humbly and with reverence. In that spirit, I would invite
you to kneel, if you are able and feel comfortable doing so, as we pray
together as a congregation.
After reading each paragraph, pause for 15 to 20 seconds.
O God, our creator, our loving parent, our light in the darkness; God our
breath of inspiration, the fire in our hearts, and the comforter of our
souls—we come before you today as one body with many voices. We raise to you
our prayers of thanksgiving for your countless blessings in our individual
lives and in our life as a community. (Pause.)
O God, we bow before you in humility, for you are great and marvelous
beyond our understanding. You have created us to live in love and joy, but
we confess that we sometimes allow selfishness, anger, and despair to
separate us from you. We raise to you our prayers of repentance, knowing
that your grace is freely given. (Pause.)
O God, we kneel before you to lay our burdens at your feet. We hold up
our planet earth, the nations of our world, and all persons in need of
physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. We raise to you our prayers of
petition for the concerns on our hearts. (Pause.)
God, we humble ourselves before you, earnestly desiring to serve you by
serving others. We thank you for the example of your son Jesus, who embodied
true servant ministry, and for your promise that we will have your Spirit to
be with us wherever we are called to go. We raise to you our prayers of
devotion and dedicate ourselves anew to serving you and to building your
kingdom here on earth. (Pause.)
We pray these things in the name of Jesus. Amen.
*Hymn: “Touch Me, Lord, with Thy Spirit Eternal” HS 409
OR “Be with Me, Lord, Where’er I Go” HS 487
OR “Lord, I Give You” NS 32
*Prayer of Benediction
*Response: “Humble Yourself” sung by a soloist or small group NS
17
*Postlude
Sermon Helps
Scriptures: Jeremiah 2:4–13; Psalm 81:1, 10–16; Hebrews 13:1–8, 15–16;
Luke 14:1, 7–14
Exploring the Scriptures
The Gospel of Luke makes generous use of the stories and images of Jesus
sharing meals in various settings. Meal sharing played an important role in both
the societal structure and family structure of Jesus’ time. A person who invited
others to eat at his or her table was not only providing hospitality to a guest
but also was providing protection while in the care of the host’s household. In
addition, meals were an opportunity for both the host and the guests to engage
in a common practice of social organization hierarchy, sometimes referred to as
the “pecking order.”
Verse 1 in chapter 14 of Luke sets the stage for today’s scripture by not
only stating Jesus was going to a meal but that he was also being watched
closely. Those around Jesus knew that he often used the meal setting to proclaim
God’s word in various ways. Verses 7–14 contain such a proclamation that begins
with simple, good advice for anyone but is then elevated into a revolutionary
transformative statement for those who choose to accept Jesus’ vision of the
kingdom. In fact, there are two parallel proclamations beginning with one for
the guests at the meal followed by one for the host.
The good advice that Jesus gives to the guests at the meal draws upon the
words from Proverbs 25:6–7. He tells the guests they will lessen the likelihood
of being dishonored by the host if they do not claim a place of importance at
the table but instead take a lower place than that to which their position in
the “pecking order” might entitle them. Jesus actually tells them they should
take not only a lower place but should sit at the lowest place. This statement
recalls other words of Jesus where he says the first shall be last and the last
shall be first. On the surface, these statements in verses 8–10 seem like common
sense that will enable a person to avoid losing face, an occurrence that was
even more devastating in the communal society of Jesus’ day than it is in the
individualistic societies in many places in the world today. But then, in verse
11, Jesus significantly lifts his proclamation above that of good advice to one
of calling people into a new understanding of the peaceable kingdom. He makes it
clear that participation in God’s kingdom is not based on one’s status in some
artificial hierarchy of society but on God’s grace and acceptance and our
willingness to receive it.
Jesus then directs his comments to the host and tells him that he is also
affected by society’s need for recognition. The host is instructed to not invite
to his banquet a list of four groups of people who normally would be invited—his
friends, brothers and sisters, relatives, and rich neighbors. Instead, Jesus
substitutes four different groups for the invitation: the poor, crippled, lame,
and blind. He does this to help the host understand that his invitation to a
meal should be more important than keeping open the possibility that he, the
host, might receive a return invitation. It is an opportunity for us to exhibit
the same generosity toward others that God shares with us. It is a way for us to
continue the cycle of blessing that starts with God by including others in our
celebration and giving them the opportunity to receive what we have received
from God.
Central Ideas
1. God calls us into community with all who need the peaceable kingdom,
not just those who are most like us.
2. To walk humbly with God is not to deny the talents we have, but,
rather, to acknowledge that our talents have come as gifts from God, whom we
most honor by receiving the gifts and sharing them with others.
Questions for the Speaker
1. How can you exhibit humility by using your gifts and talents from God
without feeling the need to minimize them?
2. How could you and your congregation invite those who are not like you
to participate in a banquet?
3. Can you think of a time when you willingly accepted a “place at the
table” that was lower than that to which you might have been entitled? What
was the reaction of others? How did it enable you to receive and share God’s
blessings?
4. Doctrine and Covenants 163:9 says in part, “Eternal joy and peace
await those who grow in the grace of generosity that flows from
compassionate hearts without thought of return.” How can you relate this
scripture to today’s text from Luke?
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