Take the Name She Gave You
CENTRAL TEXT: Galatians 4:26; 2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1; Matthew 16:18-19; 18:15-17; Hebrews 13:7, 17; Ephesians 1:22-23
Gal. 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
2 Corinthians 6:16-7:1 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,
“I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
17 Therefore go out from their midst,
and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
then I will welcome you,
18 and I will be a father to you,
and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Matt. 16:17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Matt. 18:15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Heb. 13:7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Heb. 13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Eph. 1:22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 50:1-6
LEADER: The Mighty One, God the LORD,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.
ALL: Our God comes; he does not keep silence;
before him is a devouring fire,
around him a mighty tempest.
He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:
LEADER: “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”
ALL: The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge!
PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: John 17:6-11
LEADER: The entire bible is One story; all pointing to the beauty and finished work of Jesus. Each week we offer additional readings & liturgy that connect to the central text and themes to illustrate this continuity. Our central text for today is found in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9 and so we offer this related reading found in John 17.I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.
The Word of the Lord
ALL: Thanks be to God
CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S SUPPER:
CONFESSION OF SIN:
LEADER: Let us confess our sin to the Lord.
ALL: There was a time when everyone did right in their own eyes; at all times, we tend to be too much in our own eyes. Yet you have broken down the dividing wall of hostility between us by first reconciling us to Yourself. Forgive us for only seeing one another too superficially, and without Your eyes. Help us to see one another as one of Your many gifts of grace to us, and to bind us together in a love that is unending.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Titus 3:4-7
LEADER: But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
ALL: Amen
BENEDICTION: Ephesians 3:20-21
LEADER: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Heading
“The Church is your Mom,” Tish Harrison Warren
Devoted to the Church, Sinclair Ferguson
Contesting the Body of Christ, Myles Werntz
Church: A Guide to the People of God, Brad East
C.S. Lewis and the Church, eds. Judith and Brendan Wolfe
The Church and its Vocation, Michael W. Goheen
“What is Church?” Jason Micheli
Life Together, Dietrich Bønhoeffer (tl;dr: start here)
Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas
From Isolation to Community, Myles Werntz