Welcome & Opening Prayer
Opening song – Jesus, Name Above All Names
Jesus, name above all names,
Beautiful Savior, glorious Lord.
Emmanuel, God is with us,
Blessed Redeemer, living Word.
Litany
Christ sets before us this day life and death
and calls for us to choose life that we may live.
We accept life, so teach us to live.
Christ sets before us this day the challenge
to seek peace and to pursue it.
We accept the challenge of peace,
so enable us to pursue it.
Christ sets before us this day the call
to be peacemakers;
to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ
to a suffering world.
We gather to embody God’s love
and desire for peace for all people;
to hear and give voice to creation’s cry
for justice and peace.
We gather to name and confront
the influence of evil within and among us;
to repent of our silence and complicity
with the powers of chaos and death.
We gather to join with the oppressed
and troubled people of the world
in the struggle for liberation and peace;
to work for justice, healing,
and wholeness of life.
We gather to embrace the unity of God’s people
and Christ’s church;
to make peace a reality.
Reading: Matthew 21:23-32
23 When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. 25 Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?” They argued among themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’26 But we can’t say ‘from humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” 27 Then they replied, “We don’t know.” Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.
28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. Now he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 “‘No, I don’t want to,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went. 30 “The father said the same thing to the other son, who replied, ‘Yes, sir.’ But he didn’t go. 31 “Which one of these two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first one.” Jesus said to them, “I assure you that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering God’s kingdom ahead of you.32 For John came to you on the righteous road, and you didn’t believe him. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Yet even after you saw this, you didn’t change your hearts and lives and you didn’t believe him.
Song – As the Grains of Wheat
As the grains of wheat once scattered on the hill
were gathered into one to become our bread;
so may all your people from all the ends of earth
be gathered into one in you.
- As this cup of blessing is shared within our midst,
May we share the presence of your love.
As the grains of wheat once scattered on the hill
were gathered into one to become our bread;
so may all your people from all the ends of earth
be gathered into one in you.
- Let this be a foretaste of all that is to come
all creation shares this feast with you.
As the grains of wheat once scattered on the hill
were gathered into one to become our bread;
so may all your people from all the ends of earth
be gathered into one in you.
Prayers
Closing Song – Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
- Come, thou Fount of ev’ry blessing,
tune my heart to sing thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing
call for songs of loudest praise.
While the hope of endless glory
fills my heart with joy and love,
teach me ever to adore thee;
May I still thy goodness prove.
- Here I raise my Ebenzer:
“Hither by thy help I’ve come”;
and I hope, by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed his precious blood.
- Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be;
let that grace now like a fetter
bind my wand’ring heart to three.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, oh, take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.