WORSHIP AUGUST 5TH IS AT ST. MARK'S UNITED CHURCH, PORT HAWKESBURY AT 9:30 A.M.
Thoughts around which to gather as we worship: “The place God calls you to is the place
where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”
Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s
ABC, San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1993, page 119
Announcements The Work of
Church and Community
WE GATHER TO WORSHIP GOD
Welcome and greeting one another
with the Peace of Christ.
One: The peace
of Christ be with you.
Response: And with your spirit.
* Introit Loving
Jesus, Living Body verse 1
Loving Jesus, living body, ev’ry
member with its call.
In the Spirit we are summoned,
bearing gifts of one to all.
If the ear should seem unworthy or
the eye forget to see
or the hand neglect its mission
we, the body, cease to be.
Words©Stacy Smith. Music: The Sacred Harp, Philadelphia 1844
Tune: Beach Spring
Used with permission.
* Call to Worship Based on Ephesians 4: 1-16
One: We are called to
love one another with patience, humility, and love.
All: Let us be the
Body of Christ.
One: Christ has
generously divided out gifts for us.
All: Let us be the
Body of Christ.
One: The body is made
up of apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, men, women, young and old.
All: Let us be the
Body of Christ.
One: We are called to
speak the truth in love, knit together into one body that builds itself up in
love.
All: Let us be the
Body of Christ. One: We come to worship God, who
has created us for different purposes and yet calls us into one body.
All: Let us worship God.
* Hymn Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ VU468
Opening
Prayer sung Loving Jesus, Living Body verse 2
Should
we move with the same purpose, then where would the body be?
As
it is we’re many members living God’s diversity.
In
the whole of all creation each is giv’n a gift to share.
Find
our own gifts, and each other’s: this our calling and our prayer.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
Ephesians 4:1-16 Speak
the truth in love
One: This is the witness of the early church.
All: Thanks be to God.
Psalm 51:1–12 Create in me a new heart, O God. Ref 1 VU776
* Hymn Here I Am, Lord VU509
Time with
young people/Opening the Word & The Lord's Prayer
The Gospel
Acclamation
John 6:24-35 Community
Scripture Reading: I Am the Bread of Life
Congregation (Crowd):
Rabbi, when did you come here?
One (Jesus): Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for
me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do
not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal
life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father
has set his seal.
Crowd: What must we
do to perform the works of God?
Jesus: This is the work of God, that you believe in
him whom he has sent.
Crowd: What sign are
you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are
you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is
written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
Jesus: Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who
gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true
bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world.
Crowd: Sir, give us this
bread always.
One: This
is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
All: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Reflection
on the Word
WE RESPOND IN FAITH
* Hymn Open My Eyes, That I May See VU371
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession
Loving Jesus, Living Body verse 3
When one member
lives in suffering we are called to raise our voice.
And when one is
loved and honoured our response is to rejoice.
So the weak are
loved and cherished and the strong are charged to show
greater honour to each member that together we may grow.
Offering Our Gifts to God
* Offering Song/Doxology For
All Your Goodness, God VU549
Nan’s
Going to General Council—the Church in Action
To Send Forth a Commissioner to General Council
One: Do you believe
that God is calling you to this ministry, to be a Commissioner to the General
Council of The United Church of Canada this summer?
Commissioner: I do so
believe, God being my helper.
One: Are you
prepared to listen to the Spirit that you may hear God’s direction for our
church?
Commissioner: I am, God being
my helper.
One: Will you
faithfully study the documents provided to you, in light of the scriptures and
in light of Christ within you? Will you serve as Commissioner for the next
three years?
Commissioner: I will, God
being my helper.
(The congregation is invited to stand as they are able.)
One: Will you
prayerfully support Nan Corrigan in her work and her call as Commissioner to
General Council this summer?
All: We
will, God being our helper.
WE GO TO SERVE GOD
* Hymn
You Shall Go Out with Joy VU884
*Commissioning
Loving Jesus, Living Body verse 4
Now
we each are of God’s body, both uniquely and as one.
So
we’re called to share the Spirit ‘til the work of Christ is done.
In
our church, our lives, our service, show our bodies how we may
strive for greater gifts, and seek to live in the
more exc’-lent way.
* Choral Amen
