In this post I will include the songs that were sung, the bulletin cover, and a few reflections.
This wasn't my last Sunday at Fort Oglethorpe UMC, but it was my last communion Sunday. In fact, that means it was my last communion Sunday in the parish. Unfortunately, I didn't think about that the last time I was at Flintstone and Simpson for communion, which was Easter Sunday. If I had, I might have done things differently.
I didn't really do things differently yesterday at FOUMC, except that I offered the opportunity for folks to be anointed with oil and receive prayer after they received communion, if they would like. At FOUMC, the laity serve communion, so that freed me up to offer oil and prayer. I have offered both at the other churches in the past. I may have done so at FOUMC too, but I don't recall in the moment.
From my perspective, yesterday was a meaningful worship experience-- from the songs sung, to the music played during communion-- mother and daughter combination of piano and violin, respectively, to the prayer for the mission buckets, to the sharing of communion at the table, to the hearing of the word, to visiting with folks before and after the service, etc. (Not in that order.)
Below is the transcript of the sermon, the recorded sermon, the songs sung/played during the sermon, and the bulletin cover.
May you find something to encourage and edify you in your journey,
Debra
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Recorded sermon: "Be Made One"
“Be Made One”
John 17:20-26 (CEB)
June 2nd, 2019 (Communion Sunday/7th Sunday of Easter)
Fort Oglethorpe UMC
John 17:20-26 (CEB)
20 “I’m not praying only for
them but also for those who believe in me because of their word. 21 I pray they will be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in
you. I pray that they also will be in us, so that the world will believe that
you sent me. 22 I’ve given them the glory that you gave me so that they can be one
just as we are one. 23 I’m in them and you are in me so that they will be made perfectly
one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you have loved them
just as you loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you gave me to be
with me where I am. Then they can see my glory, which you gave me because you
loved me before the creation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, even the world didn’t
know you, but I’ve known you, and these believers know that you sent me. 26 I’ve made your name known to them and will continue to make it known so
that your love for me will be in them, and I myself will be in them.”
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THIS IS THE WORD OF GOD FOR
THE PEOPLE OF GOD.
THANKS BE TO GOD.
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Today is the 7th and final Sunday in Easter.
Today is also considered Ascension Sunday, with Ascension being
Thursday, May 30. [explain—our scripture doesn’t coincide with this, however]
The act of Ascension (Jesus literally rising into the sky) is
less important than what it signifies — his enthronement, his being exalted to
the right hand of the Father, and his authority in heaven and on earth.
Like
the Resurrection, the Ascension of Christ is not primarily a historical proposition
we investigate to prove or disprove, but instead an article of our faith in
God's history with us and our history as God's people. It is affirmed in all
the ecumenical creeds on a par with the incarnation, crucifixion, and
resurrection of Christ. "He ascended into heaven affirms the core
Christian conviction of the fullness of Christ's reign now and in the age to come.
Since
Ascension Day always falls on a weekday (always on Thursday), many of our
congregations transfer the readings and the celebration of this day to the
following Sunday (June 2nd, Seventh Sunday of Easter)
A FEW NOTES:
Be made one—from verse 23.
One—4x
Love(d)—4x (CEB)
The prayer begins at the end of Jesus’ farewell meal (Keeping Holy Time, year C, 197). He stopped speaking with his followers and
began to pray. Farewell prayer for
original disciples, yet a prayer that enlarges the circle beyond them to
include many in the days to come.
Thus, it is a prayer not just for those in his immediate hearing,
but for those who came afterwards, for us, and for those with whom we continue
to share the love and light of Christ.
The table continues to expand and grow larger. Imagine that!?!
What do we see from this passage as Jesus’ vision for the church?
How might we pray?
Colossians 3:15 reminds us: “May the peace of Christ reign in your
hearts, because it is for this you were called together as parts of one body.”
If we are truly one body, connected, is there unity in Jesus Christ?
“We are One in the spirit/They’ll Know We are Christians”—though not
in the UMH, it is in “The Faith We Sing” and many of you may know it, as it was
a good ‘old camp song for many years and recently sung by Jars of Clay:
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that our unity will one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
Yeah they'll know we are Christians by our love
UMH 560, Fred Kaan—“Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us; teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace. Be present,
Lord, among us, and bring us to believe we are ourselves accepted and meant to
love and live.”
Help us accept each other
as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother,
each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us
and Bring us to believe:
we are ourselves accepted
and meant to love and live.
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons,
as in our daily life
we struggle to be human
and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people,
for all - not just for some,
to love them as we find them
or as they may become.
Let your acceptance change us
so that we may be moved
in living situations
to do the truth in love;
to practice your acceptance
until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness
and laughter's healing art.
Lord, for today's encounters
with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance,
for justice and for bread,
we need new eyes for seeing,
new hands for holding on:
renew us with your Spirit;
Lord, free us, make us one!
Make a friend “campaign”
that Pastor Justin has started…. How that ties in with what we did/tried to do
with “Get Their Name”—
1. Get their name
2. Start a conversation
3. From an authentic
relationship over time
4. Lead to a faith moment
/ sharing
5. Invite to come and see
6. Let the Holy Spirit
take it from there
How are you doing in
making new friends? Are you still stuck
at where to start? Why not start in the
shopping plaza right next door? There
are employees at each store. What about
the schools across the street? We
already have a connection with the high school through feeding the football
players and the band and allowing them space here for testing. We have one student still there. What if a couple of folks intentionally made
connections with the school? I wonder if
the teachers there need encouraging or prayer?
What can we, as the local church, the church right across the street, do
/ be for the students and staff?
Yesterday was Rachel Held Evan’s
funeral, held at 1st Centenary UMC.
I wasn’t able to go nor was I able to watch the live stream. A friend went and shared with me some of the
details. She shared the benediction, the
farewell prayer with me. It is a fairly long one, so I won’t share all of
it. However, as we contemplate Jesus’
farewell prayer for us to be one, I think these words from the benediction at
Rachel Held Evan’s service tie in well for our consideration:
“Blessed are the agnostics. Blessed are they who doubt. Blessed are those who have nothing to
offer. Blessed are the preschoolers who
cut in line at communion. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are those whom no one else
notices. The kids who sit alone at
middle-school lunch tables. The laundry
guys at the hospital. The sex workers
and the night-shift street sweepers. The
closeted. The teens who have to figure
out ways to hide the new cuts on their arms.
Blessed are the meek. You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
Blessed are they who have loved
enough to know what loss feels like.
Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried. Blessed are they who can’t fall apart because
they have to keep it together for everyone else. Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it
yet.” Blessed are those who mourn.
You are of heaven and Jesus blesses you.
I imagine Jesus standing here
blessing us because that is our Lord’s nature.
This Jesus cried at his friend’s tomb, turned the other cheek, and
forgave those who hung him on a cross.
He was God’s Beatitude—God’s blessing to the weak in a world that
admires only the strong.
Jesus invites us into a story bigger
than ourselves and our imaginations, yet we all get to tell that story with the
scandalous particularity of this moment and this place. We are storytelling creatures because we are
fashioned in the image of a storytelling God.
May we never neglect that gift.
May we never lose our love for telling the story. Amen.”
(Benediction at Rachel Held Evan’s service by Nadia Bolz-Weber on 6/1/19 at 1st
Centenary UMC, Chattanooga, TN, bulletin)
This was read by Nadia Bolz-Weber at
the service, who shared that the last three sentences were written by Rachel. Indeed, they come from her book, “Inspired” n
page 164—“We are storytelling creatures because we are fashioned in the image
of a storytelling God. May we never neglect
that gift. May we never lose our love
for telling the tale.”
Jesus constantly invites us into the
story and to the table. We are reminded
today of Jesus’ final prayer for us to be one and how we need each other in
community.
As we prepare our hearts and minds to
come to the table, hear this closing prayer shared
this week, on Wednesday morning, from a colleague that he got from the Daily
Prayer App (Common Worship: Daily Prayer) of Church House Publishing, a
publishing house of the Church of England.
Grant to your people, good Lord,
the spirit of unity,
that they may dwell together in your love,
and so bear to the world
the ointment of your healing and the
dew of your blessing;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
the spirit of unity,
that they may dwell together in your love,
and so bear to the world
the ointment of your healing and the
dew of your blessing;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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Songs:
Gathering Hymn "Standing on the Promises" -- UMH 374
Praise Music: "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High"
"Oceans"
Special Music-- "He's Everything"
Closing Hymn-- "Seek Ye First"-- UMH 405
Call to Worship:
L: I tell you this:
It is a wonderful thing when
members of the family
live together in love and
peace.
P: They shall be
like trees planted beside flowing rivers.
L: May the church be one, just
as Christ and God are one,
that Christ may be glorified
in us.
P: They shall
yield good fruit in its season,
and their leaf
shall never wither.
L: The grace, mercy and peace,
of the Lord Jesus,
be with you all.
P: And also with
you.
~Bruce Prewer
https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/04/call-to-worship-prayer-easter-7b.html
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