Welcome & Key Info
- Parent Round Table AUG 21 | tsgeng.org/rsvp
- Politics and Church Webinar | Register HERE
- Generosity | tsgeng.org/give
Generosity Prayer
All that we have we have received from God. We bring nothing into this world and we take nothing out of it. We choose to follow the way of Jesus and increase in generosity until it can be said, ”there is no one in need among us.” We choose to be faithful stewards of all our resources: relationships, time, possessions, and money. We choose to be generous because our Father is generous, and as his daughters and sons we want to show the world what He is like.
House of God Forever
God is my shepherd
I won’t be wanting
I won’t be wanting
He makes me rest
In fields of green
With quiet streams
Even though I walk
Through the valley
Of death and dying
I will not fear
Cause you are with me
You are with me
Your shepherd’s staff
Comforts me
You are my feast
In the presence of enemies
Surely goodness
Will follow me
Follow me
In the house of God forever
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Part 1
LEADER: Our Father, loving maker of heaven and earth, we come before you with a posture of gratitude for all you have created and all you are creating in, around, and through us. We open our hands and our hearts to what you have in store for us. We thank you for your love and mercy that gives us life; may the name of Jesus be blessed above all names!
EVERYONE: We love because you first loved us.
LEADER: We offer prayers for the leadership of our country. We pray that our President, Donald Trump, the women and men of Congress, and our Supreme Court justices would rule with diligence, fairness, and kindness. We pray that they would resist and oppose deceitfulness, divisiveness, and self interest.
EVERYONE: May they know the weight of their responsibility and the levity of your grace.
LEADER: We pray for our parish, the City of Englewood; for which we are taking spiritual and social responsibility.We offer prayers for the leadership of Englewood Schools. We pray for our School Superintendent Wendy Rubin, the School Board, and the principals, teachers and staff of Englewood schools. Give them wisdom, strength, and lift them up with your grace.
EVERYONE: May they be wise, kind, and gracious; cultivating love and generosity in this community.
LEADER: We pray for the mistreated in our parish; for those experiencing oppression and injustice on the basis of race, gender, and income. We pray against the spiritual and human systems, institutions, and laws that keep people down and hold people back.
EVERYONE: For the oppressed we pray for justice; for the oppressor we pray for repentance.
How He Loves
He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden, I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.
And oh, how He loves us so
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us so
And we are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If His grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way
He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves us,
Oh how He loves.
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE – Part 2
LEADER: We offer prayers for our friends and family; for our loved ones, those who have been given to us, and to whom we have been given: [NAME]
LEADER: Bless them by drawing them near to Christ.
EVERYONE: Bless them, keep them, and grant them peace.
LEADER: We lift up those who don’t know you, that you may reveal yourself to them with your pursuing love and adopt them as your daughters and sons: [NAME]
LEADER: Draw them near to you, oh Lord.
EVERYONE: Invite them into your family just as you have invited us.
LEADER: And for those we know who face particular trials and tests this day: [NAME]
LEADER: Grant them grace and peace, oh Lord.
EVERYONE: Satisfy them and free them from their troubles.
LEADER: Make us a people who move out towards our city, making disciples as you have commissioned us.
EVERYONE: Strip from us our complacency and apathy, which prevent us from joining you in establishing your kingdom and will in Englewood as it is in heaven.
LEADER: Now with all your people on earth, we pray the prayer that Jesus taught those he called brothers and sisters and friends.
EVERYONE: 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 trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory; forever and ever, amen
DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise him all creatures here below;
Praise him above, ye heav’nly hosts
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
A–men A–men A–men A–men
HOMILY | Nathan Hoag
“Pain is the price we pay for being alive. Dead cells—our hair, our fingernails—can’t feel pain; they cannot feel anything. When we understand that, our question will change from, “Why do we have to feel pain?” to “What do we do with our pain so that it becomes meaningful and not just pointless empty suffering?”
― Harold S. Kushner
“Job’s hope will be confirmed by the vision of God: “I myself shall see him.” Not as an enemy or even a stranger but as a friend, someone close to him. Job reaffirms his conviction that he will see God with “his own eyes.” This hope causes his heart (literally, his kidney) to burst—that is, it makes him happy in the midst of his trials.”
― Gustavo Gutiérrez
“I have met God in the readiness of people to reach out to the afflicted, to salve their wounds not with their doctrines but with their hugs and their tears. Like Job, I have seen a world in flames and I have been sustained by the message that God has not abandoned his world.”
– Harold S. Kushner
LAMENT & CONFESSION
LEADER: God of grace, you have always called your people to weep with those who weep and mourn with those who mourn;
We join our voices together today in lament, confession, and celebration for all that has been done and all that remains undone.
The effects of sin and brokenness are deep and wide: racism, sexism, abuse, economic disparity, violence, slavery and oppression of every kind.
Let’s take a few seconds to reflect on this question:
How have you recently observed the world or yourself to be incomplete, lacking, or broken?
May your grace and love heal with greater depth and width than any evil thing created or allowed by us.
LEADER: Lord, have mercy.
EVERYONE: Christ, have mercy.
LEADER: Most merciful God, we confess that we sinned against you, our neighbors, friends, family, and strangers by what we have done and what we have left undone.
Let’s take a few seconds to reflect on this question:
In what ways, internal or external, have you wronged another person, God, your environment, or yourself?
May your grace and love fill us and make us whole in spite of our propensity toward disobedience.
LEADER: Lord, have mercy.
EVERYONE: Christ, have mercy.
LEADER: Jesus, your yoke is easy and your burden is light. We are weary and we are broken.
EVERYONE: Will you stand in our place? Will you hold us up? Reconcile us with God, with our neighbor, and with ourselves, we pray.
The Blessing
The Lord bless you
And keep you
Make His face shine upon you
And be gracious to you
The Lord turn His
Face toward you
And give you peace
Amen, amen, amen
Amen, amen, amen
COMMUNION
The Bread
LEADER: The Lord is here
EVERYONE: His Spirit is with us.
LEADER: Lift up your hearts.
EVERYONE: We lift them to the Lord.
LEADER: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
EVERYONE: It is right to give Him thanks and praise
LEADER: We cling to the promise of the resurrection
EVERYONE: Christ Has Died, Christ Is Risen, Christ Will Come Again.
The Cup
LEADER: We celebrate with courage all You have done today And hold on to hope for all You will do tomorrow.
EVERYONE: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be. World without end! Amen!
BENEDICTION
LEADER: Now receive the benediction
LEADER: God of grace, we are not always sure where we fit, why we are here, or why our lives play out the way they do. And yet, you come to us even in our uncertainty. You sit with us in our pain. You celebrate with us in our joy. We pray that our lives would be marked by your presence and your grace. As you go about your week, may the presence of Christ go with you.
EVERYONE: And also with you!