+ Gathering in Praise and Prayer +
WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
PRELUDE
* CALL TO WORSHIP
One: God of Mary and Martha, open our eyes to our roles and responsibilities.
Many: Help us to gaze outside the boundaries of the familiar.
One: Let us join our hearts together in thanks and praise.
Many: We join and lean into divine connection.
One: Come and open our hearts and minds to divine opportunities.
Many: We come with open hearts and minds.
INVOCATION
God of miracles and transformations, come to us now as we seek to move through distractions. Speak your divine love into our hearts. Help us to feel the revelations in your world, and move us to strengthen our bonds with neighbors, community, and families. We pray all of this in the name of the resurrected Savior, who taught us to pray saying, “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, for thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.”
* OPENING HYMN
“Loving Spirit”
RH #244, vs 1 & 3
Loving Spirit, loving Spirit, you have chosen me to beYou have drawn me to your wonder, you have set your sign on me. Like a father you protect me, teach me the discerning eye, Hoist me up upon your shoulder, let me see the world from high.
HONORING FATHERS
A Responsive Prayer
Adapted from Book of Blessings, The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 1989
One: For our fathers, who have given us life and love, that we may show them respect and love,Many: we pray to the Lord.
One: For fathers who have lost a child through death, that their faith may give them hope, and their family and friends support and console them,
Many: we pray to the Lord.
One: For our fathers who have died, that God may bring them into the joy of God’s kindom,
Many: we pray to the Lord.
THE UNITED CHRISTIAN CHURCH (Disciples of Christ)
“To be and share the Good News of Jesus Christ”
499 E. Malden Drive, Coal Center PA 15423
Pastor Amory Merriman 724-938-2098; cell 724-322-8220
Office Hours: Pastor Amory is generally in the office Tuesday & Thursday afternoons, and Wednesday & Friday mornings. She is also available by
appointment.
Amy is out of the office on medical leave until the end of June. Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 20, 2021
Lectionary Readings: 1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49; Psalm 9:9-20; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41
One: For men, though without children of their own, who like fathers have nurtured and cared for us,
Many: we pray to the Lord.
One: For fathers, who have been unable to be a source of strength, who have not sustained their families,
Many: we pray to the Lord.
One: God, our Father, in your wisdom and love you made all things. Bless all men, that they may be strengthened as Christian fathers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, may honor them always with a spirit of profound respect.
Many: Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
HYMN OF PREPARATION
“Come and Find the Quiet Center”
RH #575, v 1
Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead,find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed: clear the chaos and the clutter, clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be.
PASTORAL PRAYER
PRAYER RESPONSE “Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying”
RH #305
Lord, listen to your children praying. Lord send your spirit in this place;Lord, listen to your children praying, send us love, send us pow’r, send us grace!
+ God’s Word Is Read and Proclaimed +
FIRST TESTAMENT READING
1 Samuel 17:1a, 4-11, 19-23, 32-49
(The Message)
17 1-3 The Philistines drew up their troops for battle.
4-7 A giant nearly ten feet tall stepped out from the Philistine line into the open, Goliath from Gath. He had a bronze helmet on his head
and was dressed in armor—126 pounds of it! He wore bronze shin guards and carried a bronze sword. His spear was like a fence rail—the spear tip alone weighed over fifteen pounds. His shield bearer walked ahead of him.
8-10 Goliath stood there and called out to the Israelite troops, “Why bother using your whole army? Am I not Philistine enough for you?
And you’re all committed to Saul, aren’t you? So pick your best fighter and pit him against me. If he gets the upper hand and kills me, the Philistines will all become your slaves. But if I get the upper hand and kill him, you’ll all become our slaves and serve us. I challenge the troops of Israel this day. Give me a man. Let us fight it out together!”
11 When Saul and his troops heard the Philistine’s challenge, they were terrified and lost all hope.
17-19 One day, Jesse told David his son, “Take this sack of cracked wheat and these ten loaves of bread and run them down to your
brothers in the camp. And take these ten wedges of cheese to the captain of their division. Check in on your brothers to see whether they are getting along all right, and let me know how they’re doing—Saul and your brothers, and all the Israelites in their war with the Philistines in the Oak Valley.”
20-23 David was up at the crack of dawn and, having arranged for someone to tend his flock, took the food and was on his way just as
Jesse had directed him. He arrived at the camp just as the army was moving into battle formation, shouting the war cry. Israel and the Philistines moved into position, facing each other, battle-ready. David left his bundles of food in the care of a sentry, ran to the troops who were deployed, and greeted his brothers. While they were talking together, the Philistine champion, Goliath of Gath, stepped out from the front lines of the Philistines, and gave his usual challenge. David heard him.
33 Saul answered David, “You can’t go and fight this Philistine. You’re too young and inexperienced—and he’s been at this fighting
business since before you were born.”
34-37 David said, “I’ve been a shepherd, tending sheep for my father. Whenever a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, I’d
go after it, knock it down, and rescue the lamb. If it turned on me, I’d grab it by the throat, wring its neck, and kill it. Lion or bear, it made no difference—I killed it. And I’ll do the same to this Philistine pig who is taunting the troops of God-Alive. GOD, who delivered me from the teeth of the lion and the claws of the bear, will deliver me from this Philistine.”
Saul said, “Go. And GOD help you!”
38-39 Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor.
David tried to walk but he could hardly budge.
David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.
40 Then David took his shepherd’s staff, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s pack,
and with his sling in his hand approached Goliath.
41-42 As the Philistine paced back and forth, his shield bearer in front of him, he noticed David. He took one look down on him and
sneered—a mere boy, apple-cheeked and peach-fuzzed.
43 The Philistine ridiculed David. “Am I a dog that you come after me with a stick?” And he cursed him by his gods.
44 “Come on,” said the Philistine. “I’ll make roadkill of you for the buzzards. I’ll turn you into a tasty morsel for the field mice.”
45-47 David answered, “You come at me with sword and spear and battle-ax. I come at you in the name of GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies, the
God of Israel’s troops, whom you curse and mock. This very day GOD is handing you over to me. I’m about to kill you, cut off your head, and serve up your body and the bodies of your Philistine buddies to the crows and coyotes. The whole earth will know that there’s an extraordinary God in Israel. And everyone gathered here will learn that GOD doesn’t save by means of sword or spear. The battle belongs to GOD—he’s handing you to us on a platter!”
48-49 That roused the Philistine, and he started toward David. David took off from the front line, running toward the Philistine. David
reached into his pocket for a stone, slung it, and hit the Philistine hard in the forehead, embedding the stone deeply. The Philistine crashed, facedown in the dirt.
* “Gloria Patri”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Amen.
NEW TESTAMENT READING
Luke 10:38-42
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She
had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40But Martha was distracted by her many
tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42there is need of only one
thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
MESSAGE
Summer of Love Sermon Series: “Love of Family”
HYMN OF INVITATION
“Take My Life and Let It Be”
RH #609, vs 1 & 6
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee.Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise, let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my love; my Lord, I pour at thy feet its treasure store. Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for thee,
ever, only, all for thee.
CONFESSION OF FAITH
I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and I accept Him as my Lord and Savior.
+ We Meet Christ at the Table +
COMMUNION MEDITATION
HYMN OF COMMUNION
“I Come With Joy”
#420, vs 1 & 4
I come with joy, a child of God, forgiven, loved and free;the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me, in love laid down for me.
The Spirit of the risen Christ, unseen, but ever near, is in such friendship better known, alive among us here,
alive among us here.
THE ELDER’S PRAYER FOR THE BREAD AND CUP
THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION
+ Going Forth to Serve +
HYMN OF COMMITMENT
“I Come With Joy”
#420, vs 5
Together met, together bound by all that God has done,we’ll go with joy, to give the world the love that makes us one, the love that makes us one.
OFFERING OF OUR TITHES AND GIFTS
GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME! ALL THE TIME! GOD IS GOOD!
MOMENT FOR STEWARDSHIP
In most families, each person has a role and responsibility to the family. As the family of God and body of Christ, we likewise share in this. Each of us has gifts and talents, different ways in which we are called to serve; and that is what makes the body of Christ, the church, as unique as it is. God also calls us to give and reminds us in 2 Corinthians 9:6 that “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of us should give what we have decided in our hearts to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” This means just as each of has different talents, we are all able to give differently. Whatever your gift is, the Lord says give it generously and cheerfully.
PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING (in unison)
God it is with grateful hearts that we come thanking you for bringing us into your family through Jesus’ gift of love to us. And for that, we owe you everything. So today, God, with love and thanksgiving, we give to you now these offerings that they might be used for the building of your kindom and spreading the gospel, here and everywhere.
* DOXOLOGY
Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God all creatures here below; Praise God above, ye heavenly host: Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
SENDING FORTH & BLESSING
* DEPARTING HYMN
“I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”
RH #344, vs 1
I have decided to follow Jesus; I have decided to follow Jesus.I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back.
