Speak Now (The Children and the Dogs)

Sunday, September 5, 2021
10:30 AM 11:30 AM 10:30 11:30

Union Presbyterian Church 200 E Main St Endicott, NY, 13760 United States (map)

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Every once in a while, the true (and not very pretty) humanity of Jesus shines through. This is one such time: his encounter with a woman from another culture, who pleads with him for her daughter’s healing.

Join us as we read a story that is just a little shocking, but work our way to a deeper understanding of the broad welcome of Jesus’ table. UPDATE: live-streamed Sunday worship with the Lord’s Supper will take place at 10:30 AM in our sanctuary, due to rain. The worship video will be available right here after 1:00 PM. You are invited!

Worship Bulletin

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Union Presbyterian Church

September 5, 2021

Sharing the Light of Christ, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Liturgist: Carlton Sackett Preacher: Rev. Pat Raube

Prelude Chris Bartlette

“Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown,” Larry Shackley

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.  

Welcome Rev. Pat Raube

Call to Worship ** Carlton Sackett

Thanks be to you, O God, that we have risen this day,

To the rising of this life itself.

Let the purpose of God be between us and each purpose;

the hand of God between us and each hand;

the pain of Christ between us and each pain;

The love of Christ between us and each love.

O God, who brought us to the bright light

of this new day

Bring us to the guiding light of eternity.

HYMN #76 W & R (verses 1 and 4)

"We Are Singing, For the Lord Is Our Light,” Hal H. Hopson

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.  

Call to New Life

Each of us can learn and grow. Jesus shows us the way. Let us open our hearts and lives to God’s healing power.

Prayer for Wholeness and Peace**

Before God, with the people of God, we confess to our brokenness: to the ways we wound our own lives, the lives of others, and the life of the world.

We will pause for a moment of silent prayer.

And we pray,

May God forgive us, Christ renew us,

and the Spirit enable us to grow in love. Amen.

Assurance of God’s Grace**

With the whole church

We affirm that we are made in God’s image,

befriended by Christ, empowered by the Spirit.

With people everywhere

We affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity,

planted more deeply than all that is wrong.

With all creation

We celebrate the miracle and wonder of life;

the unfolding purposes of God, forever at work in ourselves and the world.

Sharing of the Peace

Jesus told the people in his Sermon on the Mount,

If you come to the Lord’s house bringing your gifts, but have a dispute with another,

Go, make peace with them, and then return with your offering.

May the peace of God be with you.

And also with you.

Let us offer one another a sign of God’s peace.

Scripture James 2:1-10, 14-17

My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

Children’s Message Rev. Pat Raube

Dear God,

Thank you for all the things we learn.

Thank you for reminding us

that Jesus had to learn, too.

Jesus had to learn and grow, like we do!

Help us to learn all the ways

to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Scripture Mark 7:24-30

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Response Holy Wisdom, Holy Word:

Thanks be to God!

Meditation Rev. Pat Raube

Anthem #94 W & R

“Shout to the Lord,” Darlene Zschech

Used by Permission. CCLI License #CSPL068847

Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper

The Invitation

The table of bread and cup is now to be made ready…

…Come.

It is Christ who invites us to meet him here.

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you. And also with you.

Lift up your hearts. We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give our thanks and praise.

… And with our loved ones,

separate from us now,

who yet in this mystery are close to us,

we join in the song of your unending greatness.

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,

Heaven and earth are filled with your glory:

Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord:

Hosanna in the highest.

The Words of Institution

… Let us proclaim the mystery of our faith:

When we eat this bread and drink this cup,

we proclaim your life, death, and resurrection, Lord Christ,

until you come in glory.

Invocation of the Spirit

Prayers of the People

Let us approach God in prayer, as God’s people,

called to love one another.

So, let us pray for the needs of the church,

the whole human family,

and all the world, saying: Hear our prayer.

… We pray in his name, praying as he taught us,

debtors, trespassers, and sinners together:

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

The Communion

In the communion of God’s love

Christ comes close to us

and we come close to Christ.

Music during Communion: Chris Bartlette

“Just As I Am,” Joel Raney

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.  

Prayer After Communion (Unison)

Gracious God, how can we thank you for such a gift?

For you have met us, fed us, drawn us to you,

and bound us to one another.

Now send us out to share your love and proclaim our hope,

until Christ comes again. Amen.

Hymn #706 W & R

“I Come With Joy”

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.  

Congregation

I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved and free,
The life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me,
In love laid down for me.

I come with Christians far and near to find, as all are fed,
The new community of love in Christ's communion bread,
In Christ's communion bread.

As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends.
The love that made us, makes us one, and strangers now are friends,
And strangers now are friends.

The Spirit of the risen Christ, unseen, but ever near,
Is in such friendship better known, alive among us here,
Alive among us here.

Together met, together bound by all that God has done,
We'll go with joy, to give the world the love that makes us one,
The love that makes us one.

Benediction From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals,

by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro

May the peace of Christ go with you: wherever he will send you.

May he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm.

May he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you.

May he bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.

Postlude Chris Bartlette

“O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” John Carter

Reprinted with permission under ONE LICENSE.  

** The Call to Worship, the Prayer for Wholeness and Peace, and the Assurance of God’s Grace are adapted from prayers in the Iona Abbey Worship Book, ©2002, Glasgow, Scotland. Portions of the Eucharistic prayer are drawn from that same resource.

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Speak Now (The Children and the Dogs)