Worship Guide
September 18, 2022
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Creating Disciples of Jesus who Transform the World
ENTRANCE WITH PRAISE
Greetings:
Minister: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you!
People: And also with you!
Special: “Power to Redeem” Stefanie
Centering Words:
You are far more talented than you give yourself credit for. Be faithful in what you have been given, and God will bless you with more. But be unfaithful in what you have been given, and God will take it away. May we, who are asked to give an accounting of our talents, be found faithful.
*Call to Worship:
Leader: Is God not in Zion? Is there no ruler to lead us?
People: Search for the Lord, for God waits where we least expect it.
Leader: Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no healer to help us?
People: Place your trust in the Lord, whose compassion comes speedily to meet us.
Leader: Come, worship the one who hears our pleas.
People: We will enter God’s gates with hope and gladness.
Leader: Let us pray.
ALL: Elusive One, the scoffers say, “Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there?” Why do you tarry when your people need you? Why do you hide your face when our need is great? Speed your compassion to our side, for our souls have become wellsprings of sorrow, and our eyes have become rivers of tears. Help us, O God of our salvation, for in you alone do we find our strength to revive our souls; in you alone do we find nourishment to meet the needs for the journey. Come speedily to us once more, that we may see your glory and know where our true help lies. Amen.
Hymn: “His Eye is on the Sparrow”
Why should I feel discouraged?
Why should the shadows come?
Why should my heart be lonely,
and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion?
My constant friend is he:
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me;
his eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
for his eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
“Let not your heart be troubled,"
his tender word I hear,
and resting on his goodness,
I lose my doubts and fears;
though by the path he leadeth,
but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me;
his eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
for his eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
Whenever I am tempted,
whenever clouds arise,
when songs give place to sighing,
when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to him,
from care he sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me;
his eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
for his eye is on the sparrow,
and I know he watches me.
PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD
Words of Assurance
Rejoice and be glad, for even when sorrow grips us, God’s compassion comes speedily to meet us.
Be still and know that there is a balm in Gilead that heals the sin-sick soul.
Thanks be to our God. Amen.
*Old Testament Reading: Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
18 My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
my heart is sick.
19 Hark, the cry of my poor people
from far and wide in the land:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?”
(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?”)
20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.”
21 For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.
22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored?
1 O that my head were a spring of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people!
Leader: This is the Word of God, for the People of God
People: Thanks be to God!
WORD AND RESPONSE
Time with Young Friends: “Jesus Loves Me”
Children’s Message: “The Cleaver Manager”
Hymn: “Seek Ye First”
Seek ye first the kingdom of God
and his righteousness
and all these things shall be added unto you.
Allelu, alleluia
Ask and it shall be given unto you
seek and ye shall find
knock, and the door shall be opened unto you.
Allelu, allleluia
Sermon: “Debts Are Tossed” Luke 16:1-13
1 Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2 So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ 3 Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ 5 So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ 7 Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’ 8 And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
10 “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? 13 No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
RESPONSE TO THE WORD
Prayers of the People Joys and concerns
Silent Prayer, Pastoral Prayer
THE SACRAMENTS OF HOLY COMMUNION
Invitation, Prayer of Confession and Pardon:
Christ our Lord invites to his table
all who love him,
who earnestly repent of their sin
and seek to live in peace with one another.
Therefore, let us confess our sin before God
and one another.
Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you
with our whole hearts.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love,
we have not loved our neighbors,
and we have not heard the
cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Hear the good news:
Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;
that proves God's love toward us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven.
Glory to God. Amen
The Great Thanksgiving
The Lord be with you
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God
It is right to give our thanks and praise.
It is right, and a good and joyful thing,
always and everywhere
to give thanks to you,
Father Almighty, creator of
heaven and earth.
You formed us in your image and
breathed into us the breath of life.
When we turned away, and our love failed,
your love remained steadfast.
You delivered us from captivity,
made covenant to be our sovereign God,
and spoke to us through your prophets.
And so,
with your people on earth
and all the company of heaven
we praise your name and join their unending hymn:
Holy, Holy, Holy Lord,
God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.
Holy are you, and blessed is your Son
Jesus Christ.
Your Spirit anointed him
to preach good news to the poor,
to proclaim release to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
and to announce that the time had come
when you would save your people.
He healed the sick, fed the hungry,
and ate with sinners.
By the baptism of his suffering,
death, and resurrection,
you gave birth to your church,
delivered us from slavery to sin and death,
and made with us a new covenant
by water and the Spirit.
When the Lord Jesus ascended,
he promised to be with us always,
in the power of your Word and Holy Spirit.
On the night in which he gave himself up for us, he took bread, gave thanks to you, broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Take, eat; this my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me."
When the supper was over, he took the cup,
gave thanks to you, gave it to his disciples, and said:
"Drink from this all of you;
this is my blood of the new covenant,
poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this, as often as you drink it
in remembrance of me."
And so,
in remembrance of these your mighty acts in Jesus Christ,
we offer ourselves in praise and thanksgiving
as a holy and living sacrifice,
in union with Christ's offering for us,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith
Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ,
that we may be for the world the body of Christ,
redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ,
one with each other,
and one in ministry to all the world,
until Christ comes in final victory,
and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ,
with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church,
all honor and glory is yours, almighty Father,
now and forever. Amen
And now with the confidence of children of God, let us stand and sing the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
hallowed be thy name.
On earth as it is in heaven.
hallowed be thy name.
Give us this day our daily bread.
hallowed be thy name.
Forgive us our trespasses
hallowed be thy name.
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
hallowed be thy name.
And lead us not into temptation
hallowed be thy name.
But deliver us from all that is evil.
hallowed be thy name.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory
hallowed be thy name.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory
hallowed be thy name.
Amen, amen, it shall be so
hallowed be thy name.
Amen, amen, it shall be so
hallowed be thy name.
Sharing of the Cup and Loaf
Moment of Prayer and Meditation
Prayer of Thanks
Eternal God, we give you thanks
for this holy mystery
in which you have given yourself to us.
Grant that we may go into the world
in the strength of your Spirit,
to give ourselves to others,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
SENDING FORTH
Hymn: “In Christ Alone”
In Christ alone my hope is found,
he is my light, my strength, my song.
This Cornerstone, this solid ground,
firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my all in all,
here in the love of Christ I stand.
In Christ alone, who took on flesh,
fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
the wrath of God was satisfied;
for every sin on Him was laid.
Here in the death of Christ I live.
There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain.
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
sin's curse has lost its grip on me.
For I am His and He is mine,
bought with the precious blood of Christ.
No guilt in life, no fear in death,
this is the power of Christ in me.
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme or plan
can ever pluck me from His hand.
'Till He returns or calls me home
here in the power of Christ I'll stand.
Benediction
