Great Work ~ May 10, 2020

 Welcome to Olympic View Online!

 

Intro/Prelude    Lift High the Cross, written by George Kitchin
                    performed by church pianist Annie Center

Welcoming/Announcements

Welcome to online worship with Olympic View Community Church.  We welcome all of God’s children to join us in bearing witness to the radically transforming power of God’s love.  

Part of our tradition is sharing words of peace and welcome with each other when we gather. Since we can’t greet each other in person to pass the peace of Christ, let’s instead think of those we would like to offer peace, whether those in our church family, or others we can think of who would benefit from the sharing of peace today.  Feel free to say their names aloud, to pray for peace for them, or simply think a peaceful thought for them silently.  Let’s take a few moments to pass the peace to others from wherever we are, while we enjoy this musical interlude by Annie.

 

Interlude    Down At The CrossElisha Hoffman

performed by church musician Annie Center 

Let’s take a deep breath, quiet our minds and hearts, as we light a candle to represent the Spirit among us.  Let us call ourselves to worship.

Call to Worship

Out of a world of cut-throat competition,
of winners-and-losers,
and too many left behind
we come together.
The world’s ways are not our ways.
The world’s ways are not Christ’s ways.
Out of a world of hatred, violence,
individualism, and life-taking power
we gather as Koinonia, as God’s people.
God’s ways are inclusive, expansive,
and life-giving for all peoples.

Come and worship the One whose love knows no limits! 
Swim and splash in the cleansing waters of divine community!
Resurrect your spirits and souls in worship of the One!
Praise be to the Everlasting One!

Invocation

Ever-gracious, Way-Making God,
we celebrate the gifts of your Spirit.
You have not fed us a diet of shame or shrinking,
but with the milk of your truth
you have made us strong and faithful servants of Christ.
You call us to take up the mantle of justice and to follow wherever faith leads us.
You fill us with strength and hope,
and you invite us to share in the cost and joys of discipleship.
You promise us splendor and beauty in this life and in the world to come.
Meet us here, we pray,
that your word will be fulfilled in our hearing
and that your Spirit will fill us with courage. Amen. 

Epistle Reading    1 Peter 2:2-10    CEV

Scripture Video     1 Peter 2:2-10   A Living Stone and a Holy Nation Lectionary bible
                            reading – Douglas Brown, posted on YouTube 5/4/20

Children’s Time

A Time of Prayer

So as we come to our normal time of sharing prayer together from a distance.  From my conversations with some of you, I have included those concerns shared in our prayer today.  If you have items you would like lifted in prayer, please leave a comment below, or email myself at vicarglenn@gmail.com, and I will make sure to include them next week, as well as send a prayer chain email, unless directed otherwise.

Joys and Concerns

This morning, let’s keep in prayer those among us who are facing finding a new place to live, as well as those preparing to move.
Let’s also remember those whose health is impacted by not being able to exercise due to the restrictions.
Let’s also take joy in the weather we have been blessed with, and the beauty of God’s creation all around us.
We also celebrate those who have been reunited with family, but also remember those who have lost loved ones, particularly from this terrible virus, or from racial violence.
Finally, let us keep each other, and our leaders in prayer, as we continue to struggle under the frustration of isolation and restrictions. 
May we continue to keep our love of neighbor at the forefront of our thoughts and our prayers.

Join me in prayer.

Pastoral Prayer

God of grace and light,
Found within and out with the structures of humanity,
You cannot be contained,
But on occasion choose to dwell in hearts and homes.
Glance lightly upon the hearts and homes dear to us,
The people and places where we seek blessing.

Build up our homes:
Where the happy may find peace;
The sad may find comfort;
The hungry may find food;
The weary may find rest.

Build up the places where we work:
Where the honest may find reward;
The dedicated may find delight;
The imaginative may find new horizons.

Build up our community:
Where the isolated may find friendship;
The marginalised may find welcome;
The unloved may find acceptance.

Build up our nation, loving Lord,
And bless those entrusted with the care of our society’s fabric.
May they use their skills, their calling, their hard graft
To fashion communities of grace and understanding,
Where generosity of heart and mind and soul
May be not only the gilding of our daily life
But its very core.

Build up the Church, redeeming Lord,
So that all Your children may find their place,
Unique and special,
Chosen and essential to the living edifice of grace,
Where by Your grace
Each one might know their value in Your economy,
And their significance in Your eyes.

Help us all, this day, to be living stones, and not dead weights,
Dreaming dreams, and living gloriously the joy and kindliness
Of a faith that edifies everything that life should be.
In the Name of our Saviour, our cornerstone, we pray.  Amen

Gospel Reading    John 14:1-14 NRSV

Gospel Video    Clip from The Gospel of John   
                directed by Philip Saville, produced by Visual Bible International

Message – Great Work

Call to Serve

We have tasted of the Lord’s goodness and the sweetness is still on our lips. Now we permit ourselves to be living vessels of God’s sweet, sweet Spirit, offering ourselves, our lives and our gifts to those who are most in need of Christ’s healing mercy. 

We are very grateful for the financial support and generosity we have received that have enabled us to demonstrate God’s grace in meeting our commitments to our staff and our routine financial  obligations, as well extending relief to our tenants. As we continue to seek to be a source of light and love in times such as these, we ask that you give prayerful consideration as to how you may support our efforts. If you would like to make a donation, gifts can still be mailed to our church office, or online donations can be made through this link. Thanks again for all your support, and may we continue to work together to keep being a place of ministry and peace in these difficult days. As we listen to the following interlude played by Annie, let’s give thought to how we can be living stones at work building God’s kin-dom today, and what greater works we are being led to.

Reflection on the Word

    A Charge to Keep I Have,
Charles Wesley/Lowell Mason, posted to YouTube by Martijn de Groot, used by permission

The Prayer of Thanksgiving

Generous God, here are our gifts of time;
here are our gifts of talents; here are our gifts of money;
building stones for Your Kingdom, awaiting shaping and placing
within Your loving purpose. Amen.

Benediction/Blessing/Assurance

We know that the way, the truth, and the life is love, and that love has been made known to us in Christ Jesus. We are forgiven, loved, and restored. In Christ we find rest, we find hope, and we are not alone. We belong to Christ, and to one another. Live into Christ’s ways of love and peace, and God will see you through. Amen. 

As we extinguish this candle, may we keep its light alive, shining through our own lives,
as we seek to find Jesus at work in the world around us. 

Postlude    Just As I Am, Without One Plea written by Charlotte Elliot,
                    performed by church pianist Annie Center,
                    used under CCLI Streaming License 20261246 


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