Although this Sunday is the 7th After Epiphany the service is actually using Matthew13:31-34, 44-46, which is closest to the RCL passage for Proper 12A.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Come,
now is the time to worship.
We
come together to sing and pray, to offer words of praise, to ask for
support
Come,
now is the time to worship.
We
come together to celebrate God's presence among us.
Come,
now is the time to worship, and as we gather in peace, we exchange
the Peace of Christ with our neighbours...
OPENING
PRAYER
God,
this hour together is such a small part of our week.
1
out of 168, less than 1% of our time.
And
yet this pittance of time makes a difference in our lives.
God,
as we worship together, as we sing and pray and listen,
open
our hearts and lives to be filled with your leaven,
open
our lives that we might share that leaven with others,
and
lead us back out into the world,
so
that we would contaminate it with your love, your hope, your life.
We
pray in the name of Jesus. The one who taught us about The Way, who
called us to follow and share, who taught us to pray together
saying...
TIME
FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART
Ask when we are
supposed to wash our hands...
Ask
why it is important to wash our hands....
Ask
if there are times when it is more important to wash our hands...
Why
is it REALLY important to wash our hands a lot when we are sick?
Germs
spread really easily and really quickly. What are some other things
that spread easily and quickly? (stories, rumours, teasing...)
I
have a story about a potato. Well really about a box of potatoes.
One of them started to go bad. And then each of the potatoes that
touched it started to go bad. Pretty soon the whole box was starting
to rot and smell.
Jesus
told us that God's Kingdom was sort of the same. It started small
but spread quickly and changed the people it touched. Sort of like a
cold when we forget to wash our hands. But some things we want to
spread around.
Let's
have an echo prayer:
Hi God,
help
us to remember
how
easily things spread.
Help
us to remember
to
spread the right things:
your
Love,
your
Promises,
your
Hope.
Amen
PRAYER
FOR AND ASSURANCE OF GRACE
God,
Jesus tells us that the Kingdom is like something small hidden in
something big.
And
yet we long for the Church to be big and visible, because that is
what it feels thriving should be like.
Jesus
reminds us that the small transforms the surroundings.
But
we wonder how that transformation happens, why we don't see it.
Jesus
reminds us that the Kingdom is like a contaminant growing in the
world.
And
if we are honest, we know that our lives could use more contamination
as the leaven grows in us.
In
our longing, in our wondering, in our growing,
open
us to feel our lives and our world being transformed by your grace.
...time
of silent prayer...
Like
a small pearl giving great value to a large field, like a small seed
becoming a mighty shrub, like leaven turning flour and water into
bread, so God is at work in us and in the world. God's grace is
present, transforming us bit by bit, as we grow into who we are
called to be.
Thanks
be to God. Amen.
COMMISSIONING
Our
time of worship draws to a close.
And
we go out to live the other 167 hours of our week.
Go
now as leaven for the world, changing it by your very presence.
We
go, carrying the love of God, the teachings of Christ, the sustaining
power of the Spirit in our hearts, in our lives, in our actions.
The
mission field lies wherever we turn.
A
world in need of Hope, of Love, of Light, of Life
Go
with God.
Amen
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