Oceanview UMC | August 15 2021

Home Worship for
Sunday, August 15 2021

Staying home is a form of loving your neighbor. Think about it, you may be staying home for your own health but in reality you then become less of a carrier to others that you might come in contact with. We hope you will feel close to God who is near even if we are far apart. May God Bless you and Keep you.

If you are in a high risk category, it is highly recommended that you remain safe as much as possible. Caregivers and family members are encouraged to do the same, so as to not jeopardize their loved ones.

If you are not comfortable attending socially distanced activities, please stay home and stay in touch!

Organ Prelude: For the Beauty of the Earth

Contemporary Call to Worship

(based on Ephesians 5:20)

Thank God at all times for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Give thanks to God! We thank God for joy, for laughter, for abundant blessings of every kind. Give thanks to God at all times and for everything!

We thank God, when we can and as we can, for struggles, for solitude, for fears. Give thanks to God at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank God that, in Christ, our joys as well as our pain, our losses as well as our laughter, are in God's heart and hands. Amen.

Written by Thom Shuman and posted on Lectionary Liturgies. http://lectionaryliturgies.blogspot.ca. Also posted: https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/08/call-to-worship-ephesians-5-20.html.

Hymn: Gather Us In TFWS 2236

Verse 1:

Here in this place new light is streaming, Now is the darkness vanished away

See in this space our fears and our dreamings, Brought here to you in the light of this day

Gather us in, the lost and forsaken, Gather us in, the blind and the lame

Call to us now and we shall awaken, We shall arise at the sound of our name

Verse 2:

We are the young, our lives are a mystery, We are the old who yearn for your face

We have been sung throughout all of history, Called to be light to the whole human race

Gather us in, the rich and the haughty, Gather us in, the proud and the strong

Give us a heart so meek and so lowly, Give us the courage to enter the song

Verse 3:

Here we will take the wine and the water, Here we will take the bread of new birth

Here you shall call your sons and your daughters, Call us anew to be salt for the earth

Give us to drink the wine of compassion, Give us to eat the bread that is you

Nourish us well and teach us to fashion, Lives that are holy and hearts that are true

Verse 4:

Not in the dark of buildings confining, Not in some heaven light years away

But here in this place the new light is shining, Now is the kingdom, now is the day

Gather us in and hold us forever, Gather us in and make us your own

Gather us in, all peoples together, Fire of love in our flesh and our bones

Fire of love in our flesh and our bones

Prayers of the People for Wisdom

(inspired by I Kings 3:3-14, Ephesians 5:15-20)

Eternal God, we thank you today for your goodness. You have given us beautiful days. You bless us richly with goodness daily. We thank you and praise you.

We live in a time of considerable confusion. We ask today for your wisdom as Solomon asked for wisdom.

We are often fearful as was Solomon. We live in a time of peril, war, and world unrest. Different and competing interests strive for our attention and loyalty. Help us, O God, to pray for wise and discerning spirits.

Give us wisdom to know good from evil.

Give us wisdom to assess the clamoring voices and concerns with which we are daily bombarded.

Give us wisdom so that we might learn to be accepting of all the diverse people you have created.

Give us wisdom to be peacemakers and mediators of understanding where there is conflict.

Give us wisdom when we are in conflict to make it possible both for us and for those with whom we differ to save face and win and move forward hand in hand.

Give us wisdom not to violate any of your creatures by discriminating against them.

Give us wisdom to discern what is of ultimate value for our souls and to make wise choices.

O God, give us wisdom.

O God, give us discernment.

O God, give us the will to be faithful.

O God, give us the power to love. Amen.

Written by Richard Einerson in Prayers of the People: Pastoral prayers for Worship and Personal Devotion, Bloomington, AuthorHouse, 2006. Also posted at re:Worship, https://re-worship.blogspot.com/2012/08/pastoral-prayer-give-us-wisdom.html.

Proverbs 9:1-6 NRSV

9:1 Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars.

9:2 She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table.

9:3 She has sent out her servant girls, she calls from the highest places in the town, 9:4 "You that are simple, turn in here!" To those without sense she says, 9:5 "Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.

9:6 Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight."

Message: "Back to School Sunday"

Pastor Emily Denmark-McGee

A sermon on Proverbs 9:1-6 About Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly and the importance of an education. Maybe we all need to go back to school?

SONG: Be Thou My Vison - Oceanview Worship

Instrumental for Meditation

Blessing

Go forth into the world trusting with your hearts the wisdom God bestows upon all who seek to follow God’s will.

When called to lead, do so with humility and confidence in God. Be in this world a sign of Jesus’ presence. Share compassion with all whom you encounter. Live wisely in God’s name, and glorify God in all you do.

And may the grace, mercy and wisdom of God be our support, guidance and strength from this day forward and for ever more. Amen.

From Wisdom Quest, written by the Rev. Dr. Bertrice Wood. Posted on the United Church of Christ website. http://www.ucc.org/worship/worship-ways/