Liturgical Day: Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (July 5)

Special Day: Independence Day

Liturgical Color: Green

Primary Themes: courage, hope, interdependence, solidarity, faith, honoring God and neighbor, humility, confession, justice, celebration and thanksgiving, transformation, isolation, brokenness, generosity, visions and dreams, Holy Spirit

“For Freedom” Galatians 5:1, 13-26

Service of Word and Table

Call to Worship

One: Do not give easy or unthinking response to this day’s call to worship.
For today we ask God’s Spirit to fill us that we may prophesy to the four winds, dream dreams, and see visions. The call to worship today is a summons to be touched by holy fire.

Many: Even now the flames are dancing above our heads.

One: God has called us from the farthest places of the earth.

Many: From east and west, north and south, we have gathered.

One: God has called those who are nameless, those without sight, those who are outcasts. God has called pregnant women, and those with nursing infants.

Many: From all ways of life and every experience, we have come.

One: We come, like Sarah and Miriam, Abraham and John . . . people with vision.

Many: We come, like the Samaritan woman, and the Syro-Phoenician woman, like Thomas and Job,
people with questions.

One: We come, like Mary and Ruth, Jeremiah and Moses, people with self-doubt.

Many: We come, like Rebekah, Martha, and Priscilla, like Samuel, John Mark, and David, people
with a part to play in the story of faith.

One: Prophets, visionaries, dreamers, and warriors! We come with courage, faith, and hope!

ALL: God of present, past and future, guide us now to your new age of promise!

Hymn of Gathering

Invocation

Holy Spirit, Comforter, Mediator, Advocate,
We pray that you would open the heavens and rain down on us!
We celebrate your liberating presence found only in our teacher,
Savior and deliverer, Jesus, the Christ.
We know that you move when and how and where you will;
so rush into this place today.
Breathe on us! Refresh us! Restore us! Revive us! Reconcile us! Purify us! Expose us!
Convict us! Sustain us! Nourish us! Challenge us!
Empower us! And then send us to the north, the south, the east and west.
We say, “Yes!” in the name of the One, true and living God; God in three persons. Amen.

MEDITATION

Response to the Word

Prayer of Confession

Merciful God, as we come to you at mid-day,
we have gathered ourselves for the days of work ahead.
But we know that in the true light of day
you can see what we’ve hidden and covered up.
We confess that we have denied water to those in need,
we have polluted streams and lakes,
we have played it safe: staying clear of the forbidden places
that we pass on our way to somewhere more important to us;
forgetting that we carry your Spirit, your Spark, your New Life within us,
and that you are found when we veer off the track.
Have mercy on us, O God, for we are sorry for all we have done
in forgetting that we belong to you.
Help us to live in the Spirit’s power and in the light of your love
through Jesus Christ. Amen!

Pardon

Hear this word of forgiveness and hope.
Even as we stand here on holy ground, the Holy Spirit pleads our case.
Not by power, not by might, but by the Spirit,
God has heard, God has answered, you are forgiven!
God has heard, God has answered, you are forgiven!
Thanks be to God! Amen!

The Peace

As forgiven daughters and sons of Christ, let us extend signs of peace and reconciliation.

THE GREAT THANKSGIVING

God be with you.
And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to God.

Let us give our thanks to God most high.
It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right, and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you:

God of earth and sea, God of love and life,
God of the past, the present and all eternity.

When nothing existed but chaos, your Spirit swept across the waters
and brought forth light and life.

When Hagar and Ishmael were dying of thirst,
you showed her the water which saved their lives.

When your servant, Rebekah, gave a stranger to drink from her well,
you gave her a place among the mothers of Israel.

When you saw your children as slaves in Egypt,
you brought them to freedom through the sea,
and your daughter Miriam led them in singing your praises.

In the wilderness, when thirst began to overtake your children,
your servant Moses struck the rock with his staff,
and fresh water burst forth from your bounty.

Therefore, we praise you, joining our voices with choirs of angels,
with prophets, apostles, and martyrs
and with faithful women and men of every age who forever sing to the glory of your name:

SUNG: ¡Santo! ¡Santo! ¡Santo! Señor Omnipotente
siempre el labio mío loores te dará.
¡Santo! ¡Santo! ¡Santo! Te adoro reverente,
Dios en tres personas, bendita Trinidad.

Hosanna and praise to you, O God, giver of every good a gift. In the fullness of time you sent your child Jesus to be born of our sister Mary, and to live among us full of grace and truth.

As a first sign of his presence and power, he took water of purification and transformed it into the wine of rejoicing. He revealed himself as healer as he restored sight to a blind beggar, publicly proving His deity and power.

And so, remembering your gracious acts in Jesus Christ,
we take from your creation this bread and this wine
and joyfully celebrate the feast of resurrection as we await Christ’s return.

With thanksgiving, we offer our very selves to you
to be living and holy sacrifice, dedicated to your service,
as we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.
Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Eternal God, let your Holy Spirit move in power over us
and over these earthly gifts of bread and wine,
that they may be the communion of the body and blood of Christ
and that we may become one in him.

May Christ’s coming in glory find us ever watchful in prayer,
strong in truth and love, and faithful in the breaking of the bread.
Then, at last, all people will be free, all divisions healed, all walls demolished,
and with your whole creation, we will sing your praise, through your son, Jesus Christ.

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
the glory and honor are yours,
almighty God forever and ever.

SUNG: Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen. Trad. African American Spiritual

The Prayer of Jesus

Eternal Spirit, Life-giver, Pain-Bearer, Love-maker, Source of all that is and that shall be

Mother and Father of us all, loving God in whom is heaven:

May the hallowing of your name echo through the universe.

The way of your justice be followed by the people of the world.

Your heavenly will be done by all created beings.

Your commonwealth of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.

In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.

In time of temptation and test, strengthen us.

From trials too great to endure, spare us.

From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread

Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. The bread which we break is a sharing in the body of Christ.

The cup over which we give thanks is a sharing in the blood of Christ.

Sharing the Bread and Cup

Communion Music (see MUSIC SUGGESTIONS AND RESOURCES)

Prayer of Thanksgiving

God of justice, hope, and freedom, we give you thanks for your Son, our brother, Jesus, who has made provision for all of your daughters and sons to walk in liberty. Thank you for the privilege of dining at this, your table of eternal redemption through the sacrificial body and blood of Christ. We are mindful of those who have not yet tasted of your grace here. As we turn our faces back to the east, west, north and south, disturb us, convict us, and afflict us with an urgency to demonstrate your liberating presence in the world. Prepare us for the time when all will feast at your table of love through the risen Christ. Amen.

SONG OF VICTORY

“It’s a New Season / Oh Happy Day” - Israel Houghton/Edwin Hawkins

THE BLESSING

Worship Notes and Resources

Worship designed by Cynthia A. Wilson

Call to Worship Reprinted by permission of the publishers from Touch Holiness, ed. Ruth C. Duck and Maren Tirabassi. © 1990 by The Pilgrim Press. Adapted by Cynthia A. Wilson, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. To request permission, contact: Aimee J. Jannsohn, Sales & Marketing Associate, Publishing, Identity, and Communication, Local Church Ministries/Office of General Ministries, 700 Prospect Ave., Cleveland, Ohio 44115, tel. 216-736-3761.

Invocation © Cynthia A. Wilson, 2011. Permission granted for one-time use, for worship and educational purposes. To request permission, contact: [email protected]

Prayer of Confession and Pardon © 2011 Susan Colton (Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, Masters of Divinity student) Adapted by Cynthia A. Wilson. Permission granted for one-time use, for worship and educational purposes. To request permission, contact: [email protected]

Invitation © Cynthia A. Wilson, 2011. Permission granted for one-time use, for worship and educational purposes. To request permission, contact: [email protected]

Great Thanksgiving Reprinted by permission from the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, © 1993 Westminster John Knox Press. Adapted by Anne Ferguson, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary.

Prayer of Jesus © Jim Cotter, Prayer at Night, Cairns Publications, 1981, available in the United States from Morehouse Publishing and currently in the United Kingdom in a new edition, Praying the Dark Hours, published by The Canterbury Press. To request permission, contact: Jim Cotter at Cairns Publications ([email protected]), tel: +44 (0)1758 760296, www.cottercairns.co.uk.

MUSIC SUGGESTIONS AND RESOURCES

MUSIC

“We n’de ya ho” (“Cherokee Morning Song”), GS 3 Transliteration: Ancient Cherokee

“We Are Called,” The Faith We Sing, 2172 Text and Tune by David Haas (Mic. 6:8)

“Faithful God, You Have Been Our Guide.” Text: Ruth Duck, 1995 © 1996 The Pilgrim Press.
Tune: Linstead, Jamaican folk song; Adapt. Doreen Potter, 1975

“Kyrie” (Accra-Ghana), Worshipping Ecumenically, 51

“Heleluyan,” United Methodist Hymnal, 78 Traditional Muscogee (Creek) Indian
Transcription by Charles H. Webb

Communion Responses Sanctus – “¡Santo!, ¡Santo!, ¡Santo!” (UMH 65)
Memorial Acclamation - Tune: We Shall Overcome
Great Amen – Tune: Amen (African American Spiritual)

“Let Us Be Bread,” The Faith We Sing, 2260 Words and Music by Thomas Porter

“A Perfect Sacrifice,” Zion Still Sings, 200 V. Michael McKay

“For Everyone Born,” Worship & Song, 3149 Text: Shirley Erena Murray Tune: Brian Mann

"It’s a New Season" Words and Music by Israel Houghton and Derrick Thomas
from CD “Alive In South Africa,” Performed by Israel and New Breed

“Oh Happy Day” Words and Music by Edwin Hawkins, From CD Oh Happy Day
Performed by The Edwin Hawkins Singers

“Rule of Life,” Zion Still Sings, 95 18th century aphorism, attr to John Wesley Edward Bonnemere/ arr. Cynthia A. Wilson

United Methodist Hymnal (UMH) - United Methodist Publishing House

The Faith We Sing (TFWS) - Abingdon Press

Zion Still Sings: For Every Generation (ZSS) - Abingdon Press

Worshipping Ecumenically (WE) - WCC Publications, Geneva

For Everyone Born: Global Songs for an Emerging Church (GS) - GBGMusik (GBGM)

Circles of Care: Hymns and Songs (COC) - The Pilgrim Press

We Bear Fruit

Liturgical Resources

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