Crandall United Methodist Church

Worship Guide

July 3, 2022

Fourth 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 Music: “Living Water”   Stefanie

Centering Words:

God works through us when we are generous of spirit and the gentle of heart. Though we may feel like lambs in the midst of wolves, our ministries can change the world.

*Call to Worship:

Leader:   Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

People:   Sing praises to our God. Give thanks to the Lord of hosts.

Leader:   God’s anger may flash for a moment, but God’s favor lasts a lifetime.

People:  Sing praises to the Lord. Worship the God of our salvation.

Leader:   Let us pray.

ALL: God of unexpected mercies and fierce challenges, it can be disorienting to be your people. You turn our mourning into dancing, then you send us forth like lambs into the midst of wolves. You turn our weeping into shouts of joy, then you charge us to seek the welfare of those who have abused and betrayed us. You turn our scarcity into overflowing abundance, then you instruct us to leave it all behind and seek those who have gone astray. Help us question our deeply held assumptions and challenge our unconscious convictions. Grant us the courage to speak Christ’s word of peace and to share Christ’s word of comfort: “The kingdom of God has come near.” Amen.

Hymn: “Gather Us In”

Here in this place new light is streaming

Now is the darkness vanished away

See in this space our fears and our dreamings

Brought here to you in the light of this day

Gather us in, the lost and forsaken

Gather us in, the blind and the lame

Call to us now and we shall awaken

We shall arise at the sound of our name

We are the young, our lives are a mystery

We are the old who yearn for your face

We have been sung throughout all of history

Called to be light to the whole human race

Gather us in, the rich and the haughty

Gather us in, the proud and the strong

Give us a heart so meek and so lowly

Give us the courage to enter the song

Here we will take the wine and the water

Here we will take the bread of new birth

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters

Call us anew to be salt for the earth

Give us to drink the wine of compassion

Give us to eat the bread that is you

Nourish us well and teach us to fashion

Lives that are holy and hearts that are true

Not in the dark of buildings confining

Not in some heaven light years away

But here in this place the new light is shining

Now is the kingdom, now is the day

Gather us in and hold us forever

Gather us in and make us your own

Gather us in, all peoples together

Fire of love in our flesh and our bones

PROCLAMATION OF THE WORD

Words of Assurance

God’s anger may last a moment, but God’s favor lasts a lifetime.

Weeping may last the night, but joy comes in the morning.

Rejoice and be glad, for our names are written in heaven.

Thanks be to God. Amen

*Gospel Reading:              Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

¹After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ² He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴ Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house!’ ⁶ And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. ⁷ Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.

⁸ Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹ cure the sick who are there, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.’

¹⁶ “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷ The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” ¹⁸ He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. ¹⁹ See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

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: “God Speaks”

Hymn: “Here I Am Lord”

I, the Lord of sea and sky

I have heard my people cry

All who dwell in dark and sin

My hand will save

I who made the stars of night

I will make their darkness bright

Who will bear my light to them?

Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night

I will go, Lord. If You lead me

I will hold Your people in my heart

I, the Lord of snow and rain,

I have borne my people's pain.

I have wept for love of them.

They turn away.

I will break their hearts of stone,

give them hearts for love alone.

I will speak my word to them.

Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night

I will go, Lord. If You lead me

I will hold Your people in my heart

I, the Lord of wind and flame

I will tend the poor and lame

I will set a feast for them

My hand will save

Finest bread I will provide

'Til their hearts be satisfied

I will give my life to them

Whom shall I send?

Here I am, Lord.  Is it I, Lord?

I have heard You calling in the night

I will go, Lord. If You lead me

I will hold Your people in my heart

I will hold Your people in my heart

Sermon: “Wash and Be Clean”                             2 Kings 5:1-14

¹Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man and in high favor with his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram. The man, though a mighty warrior, suffered from leprosy. ² Now the Arameans on one of their raids had taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. ³ She said to her mistress, “If only my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” ⁴ So Naaman went in and told his lord just what the girl from the land of Israel had said. ⁵ And the king of Aram said, “Go then, and I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”

He went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of garments. ⁶ He brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you my servant Naaman, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” ⁷ When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to give death or life, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Just look and see how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me.”

⁸ But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent a message to the king, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, that he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel.” ⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and halted at the entrance of Elisha’s house. ¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go, wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored and you shall be clean.” ¹¹ But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought that for me he would surely come out, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and would wave his hand over the spot, and cure the leprosy! ¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?” He turned and went away in a rage. ¹³ But his servants approached and said to him, “Father, if the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult, would you not have done it? How much more, when all he said to you was, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” ¹⁴ So he went down and immersed himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God; his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.

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 who looked for that day when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they lean war anymore.

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.

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.

At his ascension you exalted him to sit and reign with you at your right hand.

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 pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever.

Amen

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: “I’ll Fly Away”

Some glad morning when this life is o'er

I'll fly away;

to a home on God's celestial shore,

I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.

When I die, hallelujah, by and by,

I'll fly away.

When the shadows of this life have gone,

I'll fly away;

like a bird from prison bars has flown,

I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.

When I die, hallelujah, by and by,

I'll fly away.

Just a few more weary days and then,

I'll fly away;

to a land where joys shall never end,

I'll fly away.

I'll fly away, O glory, I'll fly away.

When I die, hallelujah, by and by,

I'll fly away.

Benediction