For the week of October 6 – World Wide Communion Sunday
Morning Prayer: Sovereign God, You make us for each other, to live in loving community as friends, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, wives and husbands, partners and companions. Teach us to choose love that is committed and devoted; teach us like little children to wonder and to trust, that our loving may reflect the image of Christ. Amen. (Lectionary Prayers)
Opening Hymn #189 Fairest Lord Jesus
- Fairest Lord Jesus, ruler of all nature, O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor, Thou, my soul's glory, joy, and crown. - Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands, robed in the blooming garb of spring:
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer who makes the woeful heart to sing. - Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight, and all the twinkling starry host:
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer than all the angels heaven can boast. - Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations! Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration, now and forevermore be Thine.
Psalm 8:1, 3-6, 9 (CEB)
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth!
You made Your glory higher than heaven!
When I look up at Your skies, at what Your fingers made—the moon and the stars
that You set firmly in place—
what are human beings that You think about them;
what are human beings that You pay attention to them?
You’ve made them only slightly less than divine, crowning them with glory and grandeur.
You’ve let them rule over Your handiwork, putting everything under their feet—
Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name throughout the earth!
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: UMCOR is the United Methodist Committee on Relief. Early Response Teams are already working in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. UMCOR has an A+ rating by Charity Watch. 100% of donations given are used for disaster relief.
Offering prayer: God of grace and mercy, as we bring our gifts before You today, we remember Your infinite love that welcomes everyone, especially the vulnerable and the overlooked. Just as Jesus embraced the little children, we bring our offerings, hoping to reflect our dedication to living out Your kingdom’s values. Help us to see and meet the needs around us with open hearts and willing hands, extending Your grace and compassion to all. Bless these gifts and use them to further Your work in our community and beyond, so everyone may know and feel Your love. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of preparation: #568 Christ for the World We Sing
- Christ for the world we sing, the world to Christ we bring, with loving zeal;
the poor, and them that mourn, the faint and overborne,
sinsick and sorrow-worn, whom Christ doth heal. - Christ for the world we sing, the world to Christ we bring, with fervent prayer;
the wayward and the lost, by restless passions tossed,
redeemed at countless cost, from dark despair. - Christ for the world we sing, the world to Christ we bring, with one accord;
with us the work to share, with us reproach to dare,
with us the cross to bear, for Christ our Lord. - Christ for the world we sing, the world to Christ we bring, with joyful song;
the newborn souls, whose days, reclaimed from error's ways,
inspired with hope and praise, to Christ belong.
Scripture: Psalm 133 (CEB)
A pilgrimage song. Of David.
133 Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as one!
2 It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard—
Aaron’s beard!—
which extended over the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
Message: Pastor Becky
Divine Unity. That is how the Trinity is sometimes described. They are Unique in their persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – yet fully one. They work within and throughout as community for the divine will of God. It’s beautiful, really, actually breathtaking to contemplate. The divine ideal and we are invited into this divine unity.
The psalm I choose to lift up as our beginning point is a pilgrimage psalm. It is part of a collection of psalms, Psalms 120-134 to be precise, thought to be sung on the way to the Temple for feast celebrations. It is a traveling playlist, if you will. Psalm 133 lifts up the beauty of being unified with each other and God. This was their prayer.
Let’s face it, we have all been on a trip with our families; for the sake of our enjoyment and our own sanity, we want to travel in peace. To be in relative comfort for the duration of the trip is the desire. And in the end, we want to get to our destination still loving those we are traveling with.
David goes on to say it is comparable to the most expensive oil that can be acquired being given to you. He is describing the anointing of a priest and this anointing is a full covering.
This covering goes from one end of the land to the other. It covers those from the north all the way to the south. As they travel they are singing the songs of unity as they live into the blessing of God of everlasting life.
The unity of the people of God pleases God. Jesus tells us through His interaction with the woman at the well, it exemplifies that unity is what pleases God. Read again the story recorded in John 4:19-24.
The woman said, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but You and Your people say that it is necessary to worship in Jerusalem.”
Jesus said to her, “Believe Me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You and your people worship what you don’t know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. But the time is coming—and is here!—when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth. The Father looks for those who worship Him this way. God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.”
Today we celebrate World Wide Communion. Christians come to the Lord’s Table to celebrate this unity with one another and with God. We come to be remembered to God and to each other. We may sense that here together within our family – our congregation. We are also remembering those who have come before us and have been nurtured and fed, like Peter, Paul, St Francis, and Mother Teresa, along with those whose names are etched on the stained glass in our sanctuary. Included in all are those who are now only remembered by God.
We come remembering those we have been in relationship, the saints of our lives – that at one time came to the table with us, like our grandparents, parents, Sunday school teachers, and friends. Yet now they feast with the Lord.
But the Table is larger than Lightstreet United Methodist Church. It is larger than our Commonwealth, our country and our continent. It isn’t confined to one place, but is held in all places where God’s people assemble. We remember, call to mind, join with, all that come to the Table in every part of the world and with those that feast with God in the heavenlies.
Just think, today, in the lands we trace our ancestors to, they are gathering and we are connected to them, as we always are. While we may not know a single soul in that village of our ancestors – there is a place for you and we hold a place for them here with us. The Table of the Lord transcends time and place, it creates a space held by God to unite us all.
It is at the Table we are made family, living together as one, enjoying the blessing of everlasting life. Amen.
Closing Hymn: #435 O God of Every Nation
- O God of every nation, of every race and land,
Redeem Your whole creation with Your almighty hand,
Where hate and fear divide us, and bitter threats are hurled,
In love and mercy guide us, and heal our strife-torn world.
- From search for wealth and power and scorn of truth and right,
From trust in bombs that shower destruction through the night,
From pride of race and station and blindness to Your way,
Deliver every nation, eternal God, we pray.
- Lord, strengthen all who labor that all may find release
From fear of rattling saber, from dread of war’s increase;
When hope and courage falter, Lord, let Your voice be heard;
With faith that none can alter, Your servants undergird.
- Keep bright in us the vision of days when war shall cease,
When hatred and division give way to love and peace,
Till dawns the morning glorious when truth and justice reign,
And Christ shall rule victorious o’er all the world’s domain.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
