Call to Celebration
We gather to worship together this day the God of our healing in every possible form.
Different people, different lives, different histories…
Yet all children of the same Parent, created lovingly by the Source of all life!...
We gather to reconnect with one another, different people, different lives, different histories…
Yet all disciples of one Teacher -- Jesus, the Word made flesh, dwelling among us…
We gather with different joys and sorrows, different hopes and fears, different people, different lives, different histories.
Yet one people with one God, one faith, one baptism.
Let us open ourselves to the presence of God at work in us, among us, and through us. Amen.
Offertory
Brothers and sisters in Christ, giving is not an act to be taken lightly. It is done as an act of unbridled gratitude to the One who gave, who gives, and who is eternally giving. So, when we share our tithes, pledges, or offerings we too are invited to give with unbridled gratitude. The idea of sharing of our wealth may seem to the world around us as unusual but to those who believe it is as normal as breathing the oxygen we inhale. It is as amazingly radical as the idea that God excludes no one. It is as seemingly strange as believing God does love, in the Apostle Paul’s words, a cheerful giver. Blessed be the God who births and feeds all of creation. Amen. |
Service September 18th
Scripture Lesson
Acts 2: 1-13 NRVS
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”