July 10th, 2022
11:00 am Hybrid Traditional Order of Service
Gathering and Announcements
Prelude
Call to Worship
If you come into this place
with the hope of growing deeper,
with the hope of connecting,
with the hope of glimpsing God,
and if all of those things take place,
and your spirit is moved,
and you swear God is near,
and you feel more than lucky for the gift of faith,
and then the service comes to an end,
and it’s time for you to leave,
and you ask yourself,
“Where do we go from here?”
Then I would say to you,
“Go out into the world
to love and to share and to learn,
but come back soon,
because this is the beginning.
This is only the beginning.
So come on in.
Fill your cup here.
Be present here.
God is here.”
Let us worship Holy God.
Hymn of Preparation Sing a New World Into Being Ode to Joy
Sing a new world into being, sound a bold and hopeful theme.
Find a tune for silent yearnings, lend your voice and dare to dream.
Dream a church where all who worship find their lives and loves belong.
Sing a new world into being, sing as Christ inspires your song.
Sing a new world into being, where each gender class and race.
Brings its rainbow gifts and colors to God’s limitless embrace.
Where the lines that once divided form instead the ties that bind.
Sing a new world into being, Risk transforming heart and mind.
Sing a new world into being, where the homeless find a home.
Where no children ever hunger, but are filled with God’s shalom.
Where all people work for justice, where all hate and vengeance cease.
Sing a new world into being, raise the harmonies of peace.
Sing a new world into being, Join the ancient prophets’ cry.
For a time of health and plenty, when all tears have been wiped dry.
When compassion flows like waters, pouring balm for all who grieve.
Sing a new world into being, live the promise you believe.
1st Reading: Ruth 1:1-22
Anthem Be Thou My Vision arr, Isaac Lowder
Scripture Reading Acts 10
(11:00) Scripture Hymn How Firm a Foundation (vs 1,4,5) 529 UMH
Sermon “I’ve Been Meaning to Ask... Where Do We Go From Here?”
Response to the Word: Affirmation of Faith
We believe that God is a conversationalist,
drawing close to us and asking,
“What do you need? Where does it hurt? Who do you long to be?”
We see this conversational God in Jesus Christ, God’s own flesh,
who walked the earth speaking with the poor,
the hungry, the lonely, and the outcast.
Therefore, we believe that our call as people of faith
is to continue this holy conversation
with those who look and think like us,
as well as with those who share little in common with us.
We believe that through these conversations,
we are able to catch a glimpse of the Kin-dom of God,
so we continue the conversation in hope.
Amen.
Invitation to Offering
The story of Ruth and Naomi is the story of God working through people.
Naomi needed Ruth to make it back home and start fresh, just as Peter needed Cornelius to
understand God’s message.
Mary needed Elizabeth, Jesus needed the disciples, and Moses needed Aaron.
The story of our faith is one that constantly reminds us
that we cannot do this work alone. So in community, we ask ourselves:
Where do we go from here?
And one answer to that question is that we give what we can from what we have,
and trust that God will continue moving us closer to that promised day.
So family of faith, I invite you to give your tithes and your offerings now,
knowing that this is the work of community, this is the work of faith. Let us give.
Offering and Song
Doxology Praise God, From Whom All Blessings Flow 94 UMH
Prayer of Dedication
Call to confession
One of the things I love about the prayer of confession is it allows us to claim
that we are works in progress, and there is beauty in that.
You don’t have to be perfect here.
You don’t have to have it all figured out here.
You don’t have to have a five-step plan for what’s next here.
You just have to show up with your messy, beautiful self, and be honest.
So friends, let us be honest. Let us pray the prayer of confession together. . .
Prayer of confession | Truth telling
Holy God,
We are naturals when it comes to stalling out.
We reach a certain point in the relationship, in the conversation,
in our faith, and then we stall.
We buy property on the top of the plateau and build a house there,
destined to never dig deeper or climb higher.
Forgive us for giving up on the things that matter.
Forgive us for confusing the plateau with the mountain top.
Forgive us for taking the easy way out
instead of doing the hard work of curiosity, relationship-building,
vulnerability, and connection.
Inspire us to see new paths for where we can go from here.
With hope and honesty we pray,
Amen.
Words of Assurance
Family of faith,
We are works in progress, but we are works in progress
designed, created, and claimed by God.
No matter what you have done or left undone this week,
today is a fresh start.
Hear and believe the good news of the gospel:
God is with me on the mountain top, and God is with me on the plateau.
I am loved, claimed, and forgiven. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Invitation to the Table
One of the holiest things about sharing a meal together is the conversation that accompanies it. Think
back
to the tables of your life—the kitchen table you grew up with as a child, cafeteria tables with friends, date
night tables with your beloved, the table in your current home that has hosted meals with family and
friends.
At all of these tables, conversation has flowed: “How are you? What do you need? How is work? How is
your grief? When can I see you again? What are you learning these days? Tell me everything!” And there
may be some tears, and there usually is some laughter. That is the holy thing about tables. They bring us
together in conversation.
This Table is no different.
Here at this Table all people are invited—no matter what you have done or left undone.
And here at this Table we wear our hearts on our sleeves.
Here at this table we are free to tell God the truths of our lives—where it hurts, what we need, where
we’re from, and where we hope to go.
And here at this Table we are not alone.
We are surrounded by community, surrounded by connection.
So come to this Table—with your courage and your fear, with your curiosity and your doubt, with your
hopeand your vulnerability. God is here.
There is a seat saved for you.
Prayer of the people | Great prayer of thanksgiving
God of conversation,
we are here, trying to be courageous.
We are trying to be curious.
We are here trying to build connections in this lonely and isolated world.
We want to be somewhere other than here.
We want to be standing in a place and time that is closer to your promised day—
where all are fed, the prisoners are freed, the homeless are housed, and every person knows their worth.
Feel free to add a description of what God’s promised day looks like for your community. For example:
If your congregation has had conversations about mental health this year, then maybe add something
like, “Where our young people no longer struggle with the strongholds of depression,” etc.
And we know we can’t get there without honest and vulnerable conversation, but we don’t always know
what to ask. We fear saying the wrong thing. We fear offending, so we eat our words and stay quiet,
hoping
that answers will come, but they don’t always come. Connection has never been quite so easy for us.
So today we ask for your words.
Plant questions in us that, like seeds, grow into a garden of connection.
Plant affirmation in us that, like laughter, is contagious and mood-changing.
Plant curiosity in us that, like rain, washes away any judgment we carry,
replacing it with a desire to understand.
And when we have your words in our mouth, and your mind in our hearts, then teach us how to listen.
Teach us how to hear the message under the words—the grief, the hurt, the fear, the shame that hangs
under sentences like bats under a bridge. Help us to hear and make space for those unspoken truths.
Then teach us how to listen to voices that differ from us—voices with different opinions, with different
histories, with different perspectives. So that like Ruth and Naomi (Alt: Peter and Cornelius), we might
move through disagreement and ultimately find you.
God of conversation,
we are here, trying to be courageous.
We are here, trying to be curious.
We are here, trying to build connections.
It is easier said than done.
We need you like we need this community, like we need the sunrise every morning.
So draw near to us. Teach us how to speak. Teach us how to listen. Teach us how to find you in the
spaces between our words and our ears.
And as you do, hear and receive these prayers...
You might add prayers specific to your community here.
For Holy Communion: Meet us at this Table with open arms and holy conversation so that we might
catch a glimpse of you in this meal and be changed.
God of conversation,
we’ve been meaning to ask,
“Where do we go from here?
How do we speak truth?
How do we listen for you?”
Guide us.
Be with us.
Hold us.
Unsettle us.
Catch us.
Feed us.
Fill us.
Meet us here.
God, we are open.
Pour into us.
Gratefully we pray.
Amen.
Communion
Prayer After Receiving
Closing Hymn In the Midst of New Dimensions (vs 1,2,5) 2238 TFWS
Charge and Benediction
Family of faith,
as you leave this place, may God grant you
the curiosity to counter assumptions,
the vulnerability to befriend,
the bravery to speak your truth,
the wisdom to listen,
the strength to ask for help,
the resiliency to choose love, even when it’s hard,
and the awareness of the Holy Spirit always beside you.
In the name of the Great Connector—Love itself,
go in peace.
Postlude
