August 24th Worship Service

let's start looking ahead to get ourselves better organized...cool. there is already a really good august 31 discussion going.

15th Sunday after Pentacost

* Exodus 1:8-2:10: A pharaoh who did not know the family of Joseph made his descendents into hard-labor slaves and tried to reduce their numbers by infanticide. The Hebrew midwives and the daughter of Pharoah had other ideas, and Moses is born and raised in the royal household.

* Psalm 124 (UMH 846): Refrain: Alternate refrain: "If it had not been for the Lord on my side" (TFWS 2053). See "Psalms for Singing" for an alternative.

* Romans 12:1-8: Against the backdrop of their mixed Jewish-Gentile community, Paul calls the Christians at Rome to offer themselves fully to God with transformed minds (not conformed to a Jewish-Gentile dichotomy/enmity paradigm), but with the awareness that we are being made into one body, each of us with differing gifts.

* Matthew 16:13-20: In a stronghold of Roman authority, Jesus asks the disciples who others say that he is. Peter confesses, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus then calls Peter and the church in which he will eventually lead to storm the gates of death, assured of victory, and to take authority to "bind and loose" on earth.


Art Response:

First Voice:
Who do people say that I am? (Matthew 16:13)
Second Voice:
Some say you are a figment of imagination.
Some say you are irrelevant.
Some say you never existed.
Some say your existence doesn’t matter.
Some say you belong to another race.
Some say you belong to another party.
Some say you belong to the status quo.
Some say you are weak.
Some say you look after the rich, the powerful, and the famous.
First Voice:
Who do yousay that I am? (Matthew 16:15)
(Invite responses, and then end with the following.)
You are our Lord
You are our Teacher
our example
our Savior
our friend
our comforter
our advocate
our companion.
You are mother and father when none can be found.
You are love!
You are the firstborn of all creation.
You are for all races and peoples.
You belong to no political party.
You are on the side of the poor and weak.
Your arm is long and bends toward justice.
You are our source and our destination,
Our Alpha and Omega,
Our beginning and end.
You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.