14.02.09 Ordinary 5A English

Hymn:  God, we thank you for our people (Ruth Duck / HOLY MANNA, William Morris)* 

Call to Worship
Song:  In concrete, brick, and living stone (John Bell / LAND OF REST, U.S. traditional)
Prayer of Confession
Song of Praise:  Ain't-a that good news (African-American)*

Prayer of the Day

Preparation Song:  By the light of your word I am walking (RedCrearte)

Reading from the Early Church: Galatians 2:1-14
Sermon
Hymn:  Great God, as we are gathering (Andrew Pratt / MORNING SONG / Kentucky Harmony)  
Affirmation of Faith
Prayer Song:  From you I receive, to you I give (Joseph and Nathan Segal)* 
Silent Meditation
Prayers of the People
Announcements
Offerings (regular and food)
Song:  One (U2)
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Songs:  Community of Christ (Shirley Erena Murray / LEONI / Yigdal melody)
City of God (Daniel Schutte) 

*seasonal for Ordinary Time


Forces:
Soprano
Organ/Piano

February 9, 2014

5^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Please stand, all who are able.

Song

1.  God, we thank you for our people, roots dug deep within the soil,

Hardy spirits, rich in loving, strong for struggle, bold for toil.

Faithful Rock of generations, you whom parents’ parents praised:

Here in hope as we remember may our song to you be raised.

2.  Thank you, God, for gentle pleasure:  lessons learned and secrets told,

Hopes and memories saved as treasure, passed to young ones by the old,

Pranks and glories, songs and stories, food by loving hands prepared.

God, we bless you for your presence in our tears and laughter shared.

3.  Still we must confess before you, sometimes, Savior, we have failed;

Though we worship and adore you, sometimes love has not prevailed.

Tempers racing, devil chasing, hearts estranged by ice or flame

You transform by ways forgiving.  Grace amazing!  Grace, your name!

4.  By your Spirit of creation keep us bold for risking still,

Eager in anticipation, ever strong to do your will.

Bind us close to one another, sharing life and death and birth,

Welcoming as sister, brother, all your children on the earth.

Call to Worship

One: For the goodness and wonder of all creation,

All: I give you thanks, O God, with my whole heart.

One: For every spirit that ever yearned for justice and freedom,

All: I give you thanks, O God, with my whole heart.

One: For every heart that ever beat on in spite of hardship,

All: I give you thanks, O God, with my whole heart.

One: For every life that ever turned from prejudice to love,

All: I give you thanks, O God, with my whole heart.

One: For every one of your children, of every color,

All: I give you thanks, O God, with my whole heart.

Please be seated

Song

1.   In concrete, brick and living stone

God builds a trysting place,

a sign of contradicting love,

an earth and heaven space.

2.  Here, as the doors remain ajar,

the city’s cry and care

inform God’s worship that earth’s care

needs justice joined to care.

3.  Thus, when as friends met in Christ’s name,

the summons comes to each;

some shield the poor, some share their wealth,

some protest, heal or preach.

4.  On these and on their work is sent

God’s spirit, breath and flame,

inspiring each to face the world

and set on it Christ’s claim.

5.  Then, Christ, now come to where I stand

that, grand that words may be,

your kingdom may take flesh and root

in this place and in me.

Prayer of Confession

Love and mercy always awaits those who turn to God.

Let us pray.

All:  I confess, O God,

that our world is not yet

the world you have called us to create.

There is violence and hatred

among us.

For my part, O God,

I ask your forgiveness.

For the times when I have thought myself

less than another, forgive me, O God.

For the times when I have thought myself

more than another, forgive me, O God.

I want to follow you, Jesus,

and live in a world that honors

your commandment

to love one another as we love ourselves.

Strengthen me to live this commandment

today and always.

—silent personal reflection—

One:  My friends we are set free: to be a forgiven people, and to become a forgiving people in all our dealings with those who sin against us.

All:  Thanks be to God.

Please stand, all who are able.

Song of Praise

//I ‘ve got a crown up in-a the Kingdom
Ain’t-a that good news.//
I’m going to lay down this world
Going to shoulder up my cross
Goin’ to take it home to Jesus
Ain’t that good news

//I ‘ve got a harp up in-a the Kingdom
Ain’t-a that good news.//

I’m going to lay down this world
Going to shoulder up my cross
Goin’ to take it home to Jesus
Ain’t that good news

//I ‘ve  got a robe up in-a the Kingdom
Ain’t-a that good news.//

I’m going to lay down this world
Going to shoulder up my cross
Goin’ to take it home to Jesus
Ain’t that good news

//I ‘ve got a Savior in-a the Kingdom
Ain’t-a that good news.//

I’m going to lay down this world
Going to shoulder up my cross
Goin’ to take it home to Jesus
Ain’t that good news

Prayer of the Day

NOT ON PPT

Your voice burns within the depths of our being,
O God of our ancestors,
and draws us into your presence and service.
Hear the cries of your people
and speak a word of comfort,
that we may proclaim to all the earth
the glory of your name. Amen.

Please be seated

Preparation Song

//By the light of your word I am walking;

it illumines the path I’m taking.//

Yes, your word has become my guide, O God,

and your life-giving word is forever my path.

Reading from the Early Church

Galatians 2:1-14

NOT ON PPT

Then after fourteen years I, Paul, went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) —those leaders contributed nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Reader:  Hear what the Spirit is saying to you today.

All:  Thanks be to God!

Sermon

Please stand, all who are able.

Hymn

Great God, as we are gathering,

you watch your people come;

as yet, we're walking out of step,

help us to walk as one.

Great God, within this gathering,

quell enmity and fear,

bring honesty and openness,

make understanding clear.

Great God of many gatherings,

you make your people one;

from different backgrounds, ways and lives,

our journeys have begun.

Great God, as from this gathering

we go our separate ways,

we're joined by you, we go as one

to travel all our days.

Affirmation of Faith

One:  I believe in God,
All:  who is love and who has given the earth to all people.

One:  I believe in Jesus Christ,
All:  who came to heal us and to free us from all forms of oppression.

One:  I believe in the Spirit of God,
All:  who works in and through all who are turned to towards the truth.

One:  I believe in the community of faith,
All:  which is called to be at the service of all people.

One:  I believe in God’s promise
All:  to finally destroy the power of sin in us all
and to establish the kingdom of justice and peace for all humanity.

One:  I do not believe in the right of the strongest,
nor the force of arms, nor the power of oppression.

All:  I believe in human rights, in the solidarity of all people,
in the power of non-violence.
One:  I do not believe in racism,
in the power that comes from wealth and privilege,
or in any established order that enslaves.

All:  I believe that all men and women are equally human,
that order based on violence and injustice is not order.
One:  I do not believe that war and hunger are inevitable and peace unattainable.
All:  I believe in beauty of simplicity,
in love with open hands, in peace on earth.
One:  I do not believe that suffering needs to be in vain,
that death is the end, that the disfigurement of the world
is what God intended.

All:  But I dare to believe always and in spite of everything,
in God’s power to transform and transfigure,
fulfilling the promise of a new heaven and a new earth
where justice and peace will flourish.

Please be seated

Prayer Song

From you I receive, to you I give,

together we share, and from this we live.

Silent Meditation

News of the People

Not on ppt:

Welcome cards

Service concludes with bilingual celebration

Offerings

(regular and food)

Song

One (U2)

sung by Tim, Tom and Elyse

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Please stand, all who are able.

Song

1.  Community of Christ, who make the Cross your own,

live out your creed and risk your life for God alone:

the God who wears your face, to whom all worlds belong,

whose children are of every race and every song.

2.  Community of Christ, look past the church’s door

and see the refugee, the hungry, and the poor.

Take hands with the oppressed, the jobless in your street,

take towel and water, that you wash your neighbor’s feet.

3.  Community of Christ, through whom the word must sound—

cry out for justice and for peace the wole world ‘round:

disarm the powers that war and all that can destroy,

turn bombs to bread, and tears of anguish into joy.

4.  When menace melts away, so shall God’s will be done,

the climate of the world be peace and Christ its Sun;

our currency be love and kindliness our law,

our food and faith be shared as one for evermore.

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Let us build the city of God.

May our tears be turned into dancing!

Jesus Christ, our light and our love,

has turned the night into day!

Awake from your slumber!

Arise from your sleep!

A new day is dawning

for all those who weep.

The people in darkness

have seen a great light.

The Lord of our longing

has conquered the night.

Let us build the city of God.

May our tears be turned into dancing!

Jesus Christ, our light and our love,

has turned the night into day!

We are daughters of morning;

we are sons of the day.

The one who has loved us

has brightened our way.

The God of all kindness

has called us to be

a light for the people

to set their hearts free.

Let us build the city of God.

May our tears be turned into dancing!

Jesus Christ, our light and our love,

has turned the night into day!

O comfort my people;

make gentle your words.

Proclaim to my city

the day of her birth.

O city of gladness,

now lift up your voice!

Proclaim the good tidings,

that all may rejoice!

Let us build the city of God.

May our tears be turned into dancing!

Jesus Christ, our light and our love,

has turned the night into day!