07/31/2022 – 08/06/2022 – 8th week after Pentecost
Morning prayer: Hear our prayers, O God, as we come to sing Your praises. Bless us with Your steadfast love, in times of peace and in times of trial. Make Your presence known to us this day, for we seek to know You better. Enliven us with Your Spirit of truth, and increase our faith, even as we place our hope and trust in You. Amen.
Hymn: #428 For the Healing of the Nations
- For the healing of the nations, Lord, we pray with one accord;
For a just and equal sharing of the things that earth affords;
To a life of love in action help us rise and pledge our word,
Help us rise and pledge our word.
- Lead us forward into freedom; from despair Your world release,
That, redeemed from war and hatred, all may come and go in peace.
Show us how through care and goodness fear will die and hope increase,
Fear will die and hope increase.
- All that kills abundant living, let it from the earth be banned;
pride of status, race, or schooling, dogmas that obscure Your plan.
In our common quest for justice may we hallow life’s brief span,
May we hallow life’s brief span.
- You, Creator God, have written Your great name on humankind;
For our growing in Your likeness bring the life of Christ to mind,
That by our response and service earth its destiny may find,
Earth its destiny may find.
Call to Worship (from Abingdon Worship Annual)
Leader: Gather from the four corners of the earth and declare what God has done for you.
People: We are all one in Christ Jesus!
Leader: Gather from north and south, from east and west, and listen for the voice of God.
People: We are all one in Christ Jesus!
Leader: Gather from houses and apartments, from trailers and tents, and come drink from God’s living waters.
People: We are all one in Christ Jesus!
Children’s message Scripture: Hosea 11:1-11 Children's Bible Lessons: Lesson - Hosea (childrensbiblelessons.blogspot.com)
How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. They shall go after the Lord, who roars like a lion; when he roars, his children shall come trembling from the west. They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord.
- Hosea is considered a 'minor' prophet, not because he or his message is less important than any of the other prophets, but because he only wrote 14 chapters instead of 66 chapters like Isaiah or 52 chapters like Jeremiah.
- Hosea's life itself was an illustration of the people's refusal to obey God and went after other gods and false idols. He married a woman of ill-repute and throughout his life, she would be unfaithful, yet when she asked, he would take her back. This was just like God's people and their relationship to God!
- We need to study and learn more about God and His Word. There is a great danger in not studying and applying those things that we learn to our lives. God is so good to us. All He wants us to do is to obey Him.
- We need to remember that if we stray from God, there is a point where He gives up on us. We need to stay very close to God.
Prayers of Intercession: Thank You, Lord, for hearing our prayers for those dear to our hearts. We now pray as You have taught us: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: The Church Council of Lightstreet United Methodist is as a whole, representing the ministries of the church. These people discern the mission of the church and set the vision for the future. The church council specifically represents: benevolent missions, finances, buildings and grounds, youth ministries and worship and work of the church.
Offering prayer: Holy God, loving parent; Your patience with Your children is beyond our comprehension! How many times have we sung praises to You “from whom all blessings flow” and yet in our lives, in our practice and in our giving, we’ve acted like most of those blessings are from our own – to do with as we wish? Often, we have been deaf to Your teaching and blind to Your leading. May the gifts we give today be a token to our goal to live generous lives that honor You and express gratitude for Your goodness to us. In the name of Jesus, our Savior, we pray. Amen.
Hymn of Preparation: #549 Where Charity and Love Prevail
- Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found;
brought here together by Christ's love, by love we are thus bound. - With grateful joy and holy fear true charity we learn;
let us with heart and mind and strength now love Christ in return. - Forgive we now each other's faults as we our faults confess;
and let us love each other well in Christian holiness. - Let strife among us be unknown, let all contention cease;
Be Christ the glory that we seek, be ours His holy peace. - Let us recall that in our midst dwells God’s begotten Son;
as members of His body joined, we are in Him made one. - Love can exclude no race or creed if honored be God’s name;
Our common life embraces all whose Maker is the same.
New Testament Lesson Galatians 3:23-29
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
Gospel Lesson Mark 6:30-37
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told Him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As He went ashore, He saw a great crowd; and He had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things. When it grew late, His disciples came to Him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now very late; send them away so that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy something for themselves to eat.’ But He answered them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said to Him, ‘Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give it to them to eat?’
Message: Give Ye Them To Eat ~ GYTTE Pastor Lisa Mitchell
Pastor Lisa Mitchell gave a message and report of her trip to GYTTE and Tree of Life Mission in Mexico. Our church supported her financially and with many prayers. Here are examples of the work they did while in Mexico in March. The website only permits 1 picture to be added to a page. The attached picture is part of the process of making a fuel-efficient mud stove for cooking. The team also supported health classes to teach woman to care for their communities, and working at the Tree of Life agricultural center. They worshipped with the community at the Methodist Church in Tlancualpican, Mexico.
Closing Hymn: #560 Help Us Accept Each Other
- 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 righteousness and bread,
we need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on:
renew us with Your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one!
Go into your week with the blessings of The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit.